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The British were forced to send their reserve units to support the British Third and Fifth Army. This shift left them very weak on their flanks, especially in the sectors around the Channel Ports. The Portuguese Second Division was targeted by the Germans. The Portuguese were spread very thin and expected to hold a very long line. The Germans launched a brutal artillery assault on their positions and the Portuguese Division fled.<ref> Keegan, p. 347</ref> The Stormtroopers soon entered the breach in the line and pushed several miles towards the Channel Port of Dunkirk. Fearing that they were being outflanked, the British Divisions withdrew and formed a new defensive line on the River Lys. It was feared that if this line did not hold then the Germans could press forward and take the Channel Ports. Had the Germans succeeded this could have dealt a decisive blow to the Allied war effort. The French again sent reinforcements, but before they even arrived the Germans had come to a halt, as their supply lines became overextended.<ref>Middlebrook, p. 114</ref>.

The Germans then turned their attention to the area where the British and the French lines met. Ludendorff wanted the Stormtroopers to drive a wedge between the two armies. The Germans after a brief, but heavy bombardment, attacked several weakened British Divisions in and around Reims. They drove them back many miles and the Stormtroopers almost advanced to the Marne, causing people to flee from Paris.<ref> Gray, Randal, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1855321572/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1855321572&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=4a3b9d3ca6a0b8c64b1bbbccf0575c62 Kaiserschlacht, 1918: The Final German Offensive]</i>, Osprey Campaign Series 11 (London: Osprey, 1991), p. 176</ref>. Once again the German advance stalled and they were not able to push towards Paris. The Germans then immediately turned their attention to the French army and launched a surprise attack on French positions near Amiens. This was once again successful at least initialy, but a French counterattack, supported by the Americans, halted the Germans in May 1918.<ref> Gray, p. 179</ref>