Alexander considers the danger of invasion to be real: German preparations ‘on the other side of the water’ are just too extensive and diverse. The Germans will certainly try to attack from different directions, not only from France and Belgium, but also from Denmark, Norway and Holland. In particular, they are making major preparations on the Norwegian coast, most likely with the intention of striking at Scotland or at least the Orkney Islands. But the British navy is vigilantly following the enemy’s every movement in every direction (particularly along the Norway–Scotland route), and it would be difficult for German forces to break through to the British coast. Of course, one cannot rule out the possibility that an isolated unit of Germans troops may make a landing somewhere along the thousand-mile coast, but such a force would be immediately annihilated.

Speaking of the navy’s defence measures against invasion, Alexander emphasized with some satisfaction that new warships have begun to come into service, including battleships.

‘However,’ Alexander noted, ‘we may even have too many battleships for this war. The Germans have very few large ships, and our battleships have little to do. To rebuff a German invasion we need not battleships but small vessels of every type – destroyers, submarines, trawlers, etc. We have a good number of these, many hundreds! If the Germans do try to come over, they will pay a cruel price.’

Alexander is terribly pleased to have received 50 destroyers from the United States. This increases the British destroyer fleet by 30%. Alexander hopes that the Anglo-American agreement on the Pacific currently under discussion in Washington will soon become a reality. Then the Americans will have Singapore at their disposal.

Alexander quizzed me in detail about the state of Anglo-Soviet relations. I could say nothing to reassure him. Alexander sighed, shook his head, and promised to speak to the Foreign Office. He also kept sounding me out as to whether grounds for compromise might be found on the Baltic question. I told him very firmly that I consider the proposal put to me by Halifax on 10 September quite unacceptable.

In response to Prytz’s probing, Butler said that England wants to ‘shift’ some of its burden onto the United States. This concerns the Far East. Once the agreement is concluded, the United States will become the leading power in the Pacific and play the decisive role on issues such as China, Holland, India, Indochina, etc. England will merely second the United States. But this means that England will be able to focus its efforts on Europe, Africa and Asia west of Singapore.

This information is most interesting. One tendency is becoming increasingly manifest: British imperialism is in retreat in America and East Asia, with US imperialism occupying the positions vacated by Britain. Light rear-guard action undertaken by British imperialism (such as the sending of Lord Willingdon’s

Freeman Freeman-Thomas (1st marquess of Willingdon), viceroy and governor-general of India, 1931–36.

trade mission to South America) does nothing to alter the essence of the matter.