Yeah. I don't like that particular game feature, either. It has something to do with an event where the Allies strike a deal with Admiral Darlan who then agrees to "cooperate" with the US, Brittain, and France and allow them access into North Africa via Casablanca, or thereabouts.
Problem is, historically, the US (or the Allies) were not gifted a huge swath of northwest Africa with free passage and free reign. They actually had to "invade" and do some fighting (albeit token) to gain a foothold. And it wasn't a cakewalk over to Tunisia and Algeria to face the Germans and Italians, either. There were small pockets of resistance from the Vichies who still took their obligation to Germany somewhat seriously.
I think the event is a little too "easy". To counter it, I either try to have a few German troops ready to hotfoot it to that area of Africa, or preferably, have military control of Nationalist Spain or Italy to garrison that part of Africa around the spring of 1942. (I usually do not like to assume military control of the "intermediate" nations like Spain and Italy, but I think there is little other choice in such a scenario).
The only other alternative (and quite frankly, one that I am strongly considering) is to edit out the Admiral Darlan event since I do not know how to tweak it to what I consider a more realistic representation of what actually happened.
