Battle of Demetritzes

The Battle of Demetritzes in 1185 was fought between the Byzantine army and the Normans of the Kingdom of Sicily, who had recently sacked the Byzantine Empire's second city, Thessalonica. The Norman army advanced east and met the Byzantine field army under Alexios Branas near Demetritzes (modern Sidirokastro). A period of confrontation and virtual truce between the two armies followed, but on 7 November Branas launched a sudden attack on the Norman army and routed it. Pursued by the Byzantines, the surviving Normans fled to Thessalonica, which was abandoned without battle; the remnants of the Norman army fled to Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic coast, effectively ending the attempted Sicilian conquest of the Empire.