The 7th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment was created in July 1940 in Nottingham in the aftermath of Dunkirk, when the BEF had been evacuated from France and a German invasion of England seemed likely. As a result, the British Army underwent a dramatic increase in size, mainly in the infantry, with the formation of numerous war service battalions, similar to the Kitchener battalions created in the Great War. The 7th Leicesters, composed largely of conscripts, and originally unbrigaded, was, in October 1940, assigned to the 205th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home). The battalion's original role was mainly beach defence and anti-invasion duties and, upon the conversion of the 205th Brigade into the 36th Army Tank Brigade in late November 1941, the battalion was transferred to the 204th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home). In September 1942 the 7th Leicesters was sent to India, where the 2nd Battalion already was. The following year the battalion was selected to be part of the Chindits, one of the only two non-Regular units to be chosen. The battalion subsequently participated in the second Chindit expedition, codenamed Operation Thursday, where, by April 1944, the battalion was engaged in harassing the Japanese's rear and disrupting their lines of communication, along with ambushing reinforcements. Relieved from the frontline in late 1944, the battalion returned to India to reform at Bangalore. Due to the heavy losses sustained in Operation Thursday, however, the battalion was disbanded on 31 December 1944, the few remaining men being sent to the 2nd Battalion.