The British Invasion of Axis sympathetic Spain, which which was simultaneous with the beginning of the Axis' operation Barbarossa, has ended in failure. While the British did manage to route 2 Spanish Armies during the battle of Madrid, the Allies lost much more after German Panzers and other reinforcements arrived in Spain. British and Canadian Forces successfully evacuated 2 Tank Corps, 1 Infantry Corps 1 Special Forces unit and 1 HQ through their retreat so the Allies did avoid a total military disaster. The Gibraltar garrison also managed escape into the Atlantic to garrison strategic Portuguese territory before the former Allied nation surrendered to Spanish forces at Lisbon.
The Atlantic
The British suffered their first significant naval losses of the war, after a British Light Cruiser, escorting the Gibraltar garrison into the Atlantic was sunk by U-boats.
Axis convoy raiding activity thus far has been limited to the Canary Island region German u-goats and surface raiders are covered by German and Italian Maritime Bombers.
Syria/Iraq/Iran
The British, aided by the Desert Air Force and the arrival of the 8th Army at Jerusalem destroyed the Syrian Infantry Corps at Damascus leading to the occupation of the Vichy French state. Iraq also has surrendered to the British after limited fighting around Baghdad. Coupled with the joint Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, order has been completely restored in the Middle Eastern Theatre.
Libya
The British have fully swept aside the Axis in former Italian North Africa after surrounding and laying siege to an Italian Infantry Army at Tripoli. The Army subsequently escaped by sea before being destroyed and the British marched into the city. It is worth noting that the Africa Korps did not utilize Tanks in any battle. The British suspect remnants of the Africa Corps to be stationed in Tunisia where Malta is not effecting Axis supply.
Vichy French
Though Syria has quickly surrendered, the remaining Vichy States; Vichy France, Algeria and Tunisia are better positioned to defend themselves against an Allied invasion. As a result of the German Alliance with Vichy France, Axis naval power is certainly strengthened, but would have been even more so if the Allies had not attacked the Vichy French Fleet soon after the French originally capitulated in 1940.
The Eastern Front
The Soviets have finally achieved Infantry Weapons 3, which will assist greatly in defending against the more experienced and well equipped German Army.
The Siberians have arrived and have been dispatched to hold key defensive positions, but so far with little success. In fact, the Soviets have not yet been able to muster any significant counter offensive along the entire Eastern Front, but the arrival of the Siberians continue to strengthen our overall forces. A German Panzer Division was the 1st major German casualty this spring in the Ukraine.
Engineers have dug key defensive positions along the Volga (Stalingrad) Moscow, Leningrad and Kursk. Northward the Finnish have been beaten back into their home territory, but neither side is strong enough to launch any quality offensive.
1942 will be a long and hard summer for the Soviets but we must hold the Germans back!
Overall Strategic Situation
The Americans were slightly delayed in joining the war in Europe, in part due to a pop up, warning the US to return to their home waters multiple times and reducing mobilization. The pop up curiously occurred while all ships were still in port so I removed this script in version 9.0 as a result. With US entry into the war, more supplies are available to USSR and overall Naval superiority tips back in favour of the Allies, but only barely.
The Axis now control the entire Western coastline and must protect key positions all the way from Narvik (Norway) to Casablanca (Algiers). It will be no easy task, and my opponent will hopefully not succeed.
