Churchill did NOT want D-Day: 'His plan would have ended WW2 6 months EARLIER'

He’s one of the most iconic Britons ever and now has his face on our brand new £5 notes.

A polarising figure, Churchill has been portrayed many times on screen, most recently by John Lithgow in The Crown and Michael Gambon in TV film, Churchill’s Secret.

This year there are two movies focused on the towering WW2 Prime Minister, with Gary Oldman starring in Darkest Hour later this year.

But first it’s Brian Cox’s turn, starring opposite Miranda Richardson as Clemmie, in Churchill.

A controversial new take on the figure, the new film is set in the weeks leading up to D-Day, as Churchill fights with fellow Allied Commanders and The King concerning his doubts about D-Day  – all the while depicting his struggle with depression.

It’s not really common knowledge that Churchill wasn’t fully behind D-Day, concerned for a similar slaughter to Gallipoli during the Great War.

Instead, he preferred the idea of invading Nazi-occupied Europe from its soft underbelly in Italy.

Speaking exclusively with Express.co.uk, Cox revealed the evidence for Churchill’s doubts.

He said: “It’s mentioned in [Supreme Allied Commander, later US President] Eisenhower’s diaries and in [Chief of the Imperial General Staff] Brooke’s diaries.”

Cox continued: “If you’ve ever written a diary, you write judiciously, especially if you’re dealing with people who are still alive.

“So in a way it’s a tip of the iceberg when Eisenhower talks about something, you know that something else is going on, that he doesn’t go into in great detail – and the same with Brooke, but it sort of corresponds.

“That’s why there’s this whole notion of his plan and counter-plan.

Incredibly, the actor also revealed how Churchill’s plan had been put through computer analysis at Sandhurst, which concluded the War could have ended even earlier.

CHURCHILL’S HOME TURNED INTO NAZI HQ WITH SWASTIKAS FOR TRANSFORMERS 5

Cox added: “And in fact, what we discovered on our film from our military advisor [who was at Sandhurst in the 1980s]; Churchill’s plan had been put into computer analysis.

“He didn’t tell us about this until the last week [of filming]. I said, ‘So what was the result?

“He sort of ummed and ahhed, he said, ‘With a few caveats, the war might have ended six months earlier.”

Churchill is released in UK cinemas on June 16, 2017.