Germany will have no ships after UK 1, so worrying about UK or US is futile.
You must claim what you can in Afr early on (rds 1-3), without sacrificing too much from Europe, so you can keep constant pressure on Russia early.
Reinforcements is the great thing for war. Now the best reinforcements and the closet is Italy. Now I would use any extra Japanese pieces for Italy. To use them you will need 50 German IPCs. (But the only way to make this work is if Southern Europe, Italy Far East, and Libya are free).
You can place as many pieces down as you want.
Southern Europe, Italy Far East, and Libya```
This is good but the territory you list wont work because Italy didnt own any territory in Afrika except Lybia.
Italian Territories that could be made to have value: In any case the values of aggregate Italian owned land should not exceed 15-22 points
Italy north and south–north=5 south=5-7 IPC
Sicily–2
Albania–1
Sardinia–1
Lybia–3
thats the extent of Italian land interests in 1942, unless you allow German aid to italy (say up to 5-6 points per turn).