The first police officer to go into the Mulberry Bush pub after it was blown up by an IRA bomb has broken down while giving evidence as he recalled a scene of "pure carnage".
Former PC Derek Bradbury said the inside of the premises had been turned to "rubble" and "splinters", and described the dreadful injuries of some of those inside.
Inquests are being held in Birmingham into the bombings, which left 21 people dead and 220 injured - many of them seriously.
Giving evidence at the hearings in Birmingham, Mr Bradbury said that following a coded bomb warning, the police control room had told him and colleagues to search the iconic Rotunda.
There had been no mention of the Mulberry Bush, or the Tavern in the Town, in the telephone warning phoned in to a newspaper, at 8.11pm earlier that night, the inquests' jurors have already heard.
As PC Bradbury and colleagues got into the Rotunda's lift in the main foyer, he described hearing a "huge thud".
"We knew instinctively, that a bomb had gone off," he said.
He, a female police officer and another constable, then ran the short distance around the side of the Rotunda, to the Mulberry Bush.
Mr Bradbury, formerly of West Midlands Police, said: "I went in there and there was a chap standing there, only a young lad, obviously on his night out to town.
"He had his best mac and tie and he comes up to me and says 'I'll come in with you mate'."
Describing what was in front of them, he said: "It was just a scene of pure carnage - nothing left of the pub.
"It was splinters of wood all over the place, wires were hanging down and water was coming down.
"You had to be careful, it was like walking on a rubbish tip because of all the bricks and rubble."
He added: "As I was going in there a woman came out towards me."
Mr Bradbury, recounting events from 44 years ago, broke down, and had to leave the witness box for a few moments.
When he returned, he took up his story, and said: "There was a woman staggering about towards me and she was not screaming but moaning and saying 'I have been hurt' and holding her stomach.
"There was not much of her stomach left really.
"She was the first one we took out, and I sat her down by (WPC) Maggie (Adams) and said, you know, 'do your best'.
"I went back in again. There was a bloke lying there.
"This poor bloke, he was lying on his back and his legs had been blown off."
Mr Bradbury told of another "kid" who he pulled out and believed already dead, another man who had lost a leg, and a young girl who he also believed was deceased.
In all, he brought six of the dead out of the pub that night.
He also discovered teenage friends Neil Marsh and Paul Davies, who had been walking outside when the bomb went off, and were among the deceased.
Mr Bradbury said he could remember having no specific training in how to deal with bomb warnings, but had been on duty in the July when a bomb had gone off at the Rotunda - causing only damage to property.
He was asked by Leslie Thomas QC, representing nine of the bereaved families, why no cordon had been established around the Rotunda - including the pub, once a warning had been received.
Mr Bradbury said: "A perimeter is a brilliant idea if you can do it - the numbers my seniors sent down, there were not enough."
He added that "twice the amount" of officers would have not been enough, and that running down the street "shouting 'bomb"' would have had little impact.
On patrol in a Panda car that night, Mr Bradbury said he got the warning and it took "about a minute" to get to the Rotunda and park up.
Arriving there were three officers, "waiting" for him and WPC Adams to begin the Rotunda search.
Mr Bradbury said: "You can delve as deep as you like into what you're thinking at the time.
"But if you're told there's a bomb going to go off in the Rotunda, you are not thinking about the IRA, you are not thinking about anything else, you are thinking about the Rotunda, and someone saying 'there's a bomb in there'."
He added: "If I'd have known it was in the Mulberry Bush, I probably wouldn't be speaking to you here now, I would be dead with the rest of them.
"But the point is hindsight is great.
"But we hadn't got hindsight (then).
"We were told it was the Rotunda."
The inquest continues.
