Soldiers came under almost continuous fire after they entered the nationalist Bogside area of Derry City on Bloody Sunday, it was claimed today.
A paratrooper known as INQ 131 said as many as 30 shots may have been fired by civilian gunmen before he first heard military fire.
The private said he believed the Parachute Regiment was sent to Derry on January 30th, 1972 to break the republican "no-go area" so troops could go back in to patrol the Bogside and claimed a soldier who accompanied him into the area was armed only with a baton.
The soldier said that he first came under fire as he and another soldier turned south down Rossville Street from William Street.
"The shots I heard were single shots, fired from a low calibre weapon," he said.
"I formed the impression that the shooting was directed at us as I could see dirt jumping on the ground in our general area."
He added that he could not say where the shots were coming from, but he expected fire to come from the Rossville Flats because he knew they were in the centre of the "no-go area".
"The IRA would have known that William Street was our likely point of entry into the Bogside, and I immediately assumed that we had been ambushed," he said.
"It is fair to say that I had expected to be fired upon.
"It was as the shots first rang out that I joked with Soldier 003 that he should go and hit them with his stick." Soldier INQ 131 said the incoming fire continued for some time.
"I cannot say with any precision how many shots were fired from the moment we turned the corner to head south down Rossville Street to the moment when I first heard military fire but I would say it was certainly more than 10 or 20, perhaps as many as 30," he said.
"We expected to be fired on but not to that extent."
Soldier INQ 131 said he and another soldier took cover of walls as the incoming fire continued.
"Because the enemy fire was almost continuous, it would have been stupid to carry on skirmishing unless we were specifically ordered to do so, so we stayed where we were," he added.
The Saville Inquiry, which usually sits at the Guildhall in Derry City, is currently hearing the evidence from military witnesses and others in London because of concerns for their safety.
PA