Changes

The Offensive took place over a period of one hundred days and four or five major battles are identifiable during this phase of the war. The first major operation of the Spring Offensive was Operation Michael. On 21 March 1918, the German Stormtroopers launched an attack against the British Fifth Army and against the right wing of the British Third Army. By the end of the first day, the British had suffered some 50,000 casualties and the Germans had broken through at several points. The British Fifth Army after two days was in full retreat and the Third Army was also forced to withdraw from its positions as its commanders feared being surrounded by the Germans. The French dispatched several divisions to halt the German advance and they helped to slow and eventually to halt the German advance. The German attack had achieved real and substantive gains but it was not a decisive defeat for the British in particular, who regrouped and established a new line of defences.<ref> Middlebrook, Martin. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K16X9X2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01K16X9X2&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=d8d7858aa44b3dda4f8077a9b5521faf The Kaiser's Battle: 21 March 1918: The First Day of the German Spring Offensive]</i>. (Hammondsworth, Penguin. 1983), p. 111.</ref>

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>.