The fact that Singapore could not be defended was something that the Military and Civilian Governors of Singapore denied, till it was too late!.

At a meeting in April 1941, Cooper must have discussed this with Brooke-Popham and Shenton Thomas. From this meeting the report on the defence of Singapore fell into Japanese hands, so they knew too

April 1941 L to R Brooke-Popham, Duff Cooper, Earl Page, Clark-Kerr, Shenton Thomas, Goffrey Layton

The Headquarters of Special Operations Executive was at 2 Caxton Street,  next to the Hotel St Ermine.  Before fathers mission had taken place it had moved to 64 Baker St London. Father was to become one of the so called "Baker Street Irregulars", a name from the famous Sherlock Holmes era of number 22b Baker Street and helped to setup the offices.

Click to enlarge

I am indebted to Gervase COWELL (RIP) for information about what records that survive of operation "Scapula" and Duncan STUART for the PRO reference numbers, his kind words and patience in answering my requests for more information.

Operation "PUMA" or Special Training School 101, was situated on the Isle of Singapore at the southern most tip of Malaya at the mouth of the Jurong river.