The Bloody Sunday Inquiry/Day 345: The British army officer who commanded the paratroopers who carried out the killings of unarmed civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday said yesterday he and the soldiers under his command "did the best we possibly could".
Retired Col Edward Loden, who commanded Support Company, the group of soldiers which killed 13 civilians in the Bogside on January 30th, 1972, also told the inquiry he was "appalled" that a large number of people had been killed.
He said what had originally been planned as an arrest operation turned into a gun-battle when IRA gunmen opened fire on his soldiers.
Asked by barrister Mr Gerard Elias QC, who represents several of the soldiers, if he now believed there were failings in the planning and execution of the British army's plan for the day, Col Loden said it was always easy, with the benefit of hindsight, to believe certain things could have been done better.
"When the gunmen opened fire on us, the situation changed, and that was not part of the initial idea and our men, as I have said in my statement, turned from arresting rioters to repelling the attacks made upon them and that actually was my focus."
He continued: "But I think certainly we did the best we could in the circumstances, and I assure you that when I arrived at barrier 12 (on the edge of the Bogside) I had absolutely no idea at all as to what was going to happen subsequently.
He added: "If you think there were flaws at a higher level, I think those questions should be addressed to those people who were privy to all the information which I was not privy to, and I am still not privy to, as to why they made the decision they made."
The inquiry resumes today.