 When he was subsequently appointed to command India Command's Eastern Army, facing the Japanese army on the frontier between India and Burma, he requested that the two divisions being organised in West Africa be used in the Burma campaign.The division was formed from the existing 1st (West African) Infantry Brigade and 2nd (West African) Infantry Brigade, both of which had previously taken part in the East African Campaign in 1940 and 1941, and the freshly raised 4th (Nigerian) Infantry Brigade.The Division's headquarters was created on 1 August 1943.