title: Fighting the Enemy: Australian Soldiers and their Adversaries in World War II
author:  Mark Johnston 
description: "Johnston has made an important contribution to our understanding of the ways in which Australian soldiers perceived their different enemies in the Second World War." International History Review<br /><br />"He offers the ideas and observations of ordinary soldiers on a matter commonly overlooked in war histories that focus on strategy or on the narrative of campaigns." Contemporary Pacific
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  ![image](../Images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## About the Book
  
  
  
  
  
  It seems to have happened overnight, Val thought. How extraordinary. We’ve
  become a khaki town.
  
  
  
  
  
  It’s March 1942. Singapore has fallen. Darwin has been bombed. Australia is on
  the brink of being invaded by the Imperial Japanese Forces. And Val Callahan,
  publican of The Brown’s Bar in Townsville, could not be happier as she
  contemplates the fortune she’s making from lonely, thirsty soldiers.
  
  
  
  
  
  Overnight the small Queensland city is transformed into the transport hub for
  70,000 American and Australian soldiers destined for combat in the South
  Pacific. Barbed wire and gun emplacements cover the beaches. Historic
  buildings are commandeered. And the dance halls are in full swing with jazz,
  jitterbug and jive.
  
  
  
  
  
  The Australian troops begrudge the confident, well-fed ‘Yanks’ who have taken
  over their town and their women. There’s growing conflict, too, within the
  American ranks, because black GIs are enjoying the 