The officer commanding paratroopers in Derry on Bloody Sunday today denied he failed to inform army headquarters he was about to lead his men into the nationalist Bogside area.
Colonel Derek Wilford told the Saville Inquiry in London he did not act beyond his orders on January 30th, 1972 when 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by soldiers. A 14th man died later.
Col Wilford said his command centre was always aware he intended to send his troops through two crowd control barriers to separate and arrest rioters.
He said his men intended to go through barrier 12 to Little James Street and barrier 14 to William Street in order to snatch rioters.
However, both Lord Saville and Christopher Clarke, questioned this when the inquiry was shown army log book entries from Bloody Sunday which only mentioned sending troops through barrier 14.
Col Wilford said that no mention of barrier 12 must have been an error or omission by those passing on his communications.
Mr Clarke asked: "Colonel Wilford, do you accept, looking back on it, that brigade was inadequately informed as to what it was that you were intending to do prior to giving its order?"
He replied: "No, I do not think they were inadequately informed. I cannot explain to you now how they were informed, but I have no doubt that they were aware of what our intentions were."
Mr Clarke suggested Col Wilford's instruction that he wanted to deploy men through barrier 14, coupled with the absence of any indication that he planned to drive his men through barrier 12 were inadequacies.
"I suggest the combination of those two leaves a misleading impression of what you were about, is that fair?," asked Mr Clarke.
Col Wilford replied: "The particularisation of barrier 14 is, I think, an error and an omission or a misinterpretation by the people who were passing on my information and I cannot, I am afraid, I cannot speak for them, it is not my message." Col Wilford said his men intended to surround troublemakers.
"Because the main intention was to collect as many rioters at that area of barrier 14, it did not say that we should not actually conduct the pincer operation, a part of which, of course, was to go through barrier 12," he said.
Lord Saville interrupted the exchange to ask: "Colonel Wilford, how can you say that brigade always knew what you were going to do, because it was only at a late stage, for example, you decided to put troops through barrier 12."
"No sir, they were always aware that in fact an operation, an arrest operation by my battalion, would involve a pincer movement and that I would be using two companies at a minimum to do that job," replied Col Wilford.
He said he did not hear any army shooting before he sent his men into the nationalist Bogside area.
And he was not aware soldiers had already opened fire on civilians before he sent paratroopers through a crowd control barrier until days after January 30th, 1972, he added.
The inquiry has heard two soldiers in Machine Gun Platoon fired five shots between them, two of which struck Damian Donaghey, 16, and John Johnson, 59, the first two people wounded on Bloody Sunday, before paratroopers entered the Bogside.
Col Wilford told the tribunal the first shot he heard on the day was incoming from a southerly direction and hit a drainpipe near his position.
However, he admitted he did not know the Machine Gun Platoon soldiers fired from that general direction until days after Bloody Sunday.
PA