We wanted march handled differently, officer tells inquiry

The senior army officer who was the army’s helicopter observer on Bloody Sunday today said he only had a limited view of events - and that he had lobbied to handle the march differently.

Maj Gen Welsh had lobbied for the local battalions to be deployed on Bloody Sunday instead of the aggressive 1 Para.

He told the inquiry they were “aghast” at the bloodshed but added: “I think because we all felt, mainly knew the ground and we knew the Derry people, ... we would have tackled it differently, perhaps we would have been much more restrained.

“We were aghast at what had happened. We thought thank goodness after all our asking to do it ourselves that we did not because the result could have been the same.”

The senior army officer who was the army’s helicopter observer on Bloody Sunday today said he only had a limited view of events.

Major General Peter Welsh was observing events on 30 January 1972 - when British paratroopers shot dead 13 men on a Derry civil rights march - from the army Sioux helicopter.

Maj Gen Welsh, who was then the Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Green Jackets, had been hand-picked for the job by Brigadier Pat MacLellan, who headed 8 Brigade who was in charge of the army’s operation that day.

Brig MacLellan has earlier told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, sitting in central London, that Maj Gen Welsh would give him “an extra pair of eyes” throughout the march.

He added: “Ultimately he would be in a position to say that the non-violent marchers were clear and that the hooligans were all that were left.”

Today Maj Gen Welsh recalled that he had problems maintaining a consistent view of what was happening on the ground as he circled at between 2,000ft and 4,000ft above the crowd in the Bogside.

Arthur Harvey QC, representing many of the survivors and bereaved relatives, asked: “If you were specifically put in the air to make or assist brigade in making a determination as to whether or not there was separation, you seem to be singularly ill-used, is that not so?”

Maj Gen Welsh replied that if the British army was relying on him to declare whether there was total separation then “yes, you are probably right.”

He said that it could be viewed that he was not asked often enough if there was separation.

Just before the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment were sent into the Bogside to arrest rioters, Maj Gen Welsh radioed that the crowd was spreading.

At 3.54pm they were stretching from Aggro Corner right up to 100 yards beyond the Rossville Flats and 3.59pm they had moved further into the Lecky Road, Maj Gen Welsh reported.