The British army's most senior officer present on Bloody Sunday today said "there was certainly nothing to be proud of" on that day.
Major Gen Sir Robert Ford, former Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland, said he was "extremely sad" about the 13 unarmed men that paratroopers killed but he was not responsible for and did not accept any blame for what happened.
His comment came under cross-examination at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from Gerard Elias QC, representing several soldiers who allege that planning mistakes, loss of military discipline and misconduct may have contributed to the bloodshed.
It was Sir Robert's decision to deploy the 1st Parachute Regiment into the Bogside no-go area for a mass arrest operation at a January 30th, 1972, march - but the detail of the plan was the responsibility of lower ranking commanders, he said. Sir Robert was in charge of day-to-day army operations in Northern Ireland at the time.
Mr Elias said there were "substantial and significant flaws" in the military plan.
The soldiers were not given specific orders about how they were to go in for a pincer movement to arrest they rioters. When they hit the ground they did not have detailed orders about how they were to go in behind the rioters, to stop and pick them up, the inquiry was told.
A statement from Company Sgt Maj Lewis, an experienced Northern Ireland para, shows that lack of planning showed that the execution of the plan "totally failed", Mr Elias said.
Sgt Maj Lewis's statement read: "I do not feel now there was a proper controllable plan to contain the march or a clear indication before we were deployed of what was expected or how the arrest operation was to take place".
PA