The Epsom was the battle which ended the German dreams of driving the invaders back into the sea. Hitler gathered the best of his remaining Panzer Divisions and broke them against the resistance encountered. The beginning of Epsom caught the enemy off balance and kept the Germans off balance until Hitler's counterstroke in Normandy was doomed to failure. Most importantly, this was the battle in which the enthusiastic but untried British troops stood toe-to-toe with some of the best-equipped, best-led and most experienced combat formations of the Third Reich.