Under heavy attack by the Luftwaffe, an estimated 5,000 were killed in the evacuation and more than 200 vessels, one in four, were lost. Total allied casualties in the battle of Dunkirk, an estimated 30,000 killed or wounded and 34,000 missing or captured, according to Wikipedia. Another 338,000 were saved to fight another day. Hitler had ordered a three-day halt, and a number of top German brass considered the failure to launch an assault a critical error.