to retake the north-western and south-western Bulgarian lands which the Serbs had previously conquered. The plan included the thorough elimination of Serbia and its partition between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. According to some Serbian chroniclers, he demanded the submission of the Serbian king and threatened to "set up his throne in the middle of the Serbian land". Preparations Both sides took careful preparations. Michael called in his ally Basarab of Wallachia who sent him a strong unit, as well as detachments of Ossetians/Jassiges and Tatars, a total of 3,000 men. Michael's army was estimated by contemporaries to be 15,000 strong. Stefan Uroš strengthened his army by more Catalan and German mercenaries (1,000 soldiers each), experienced warriors which presented an elite unit of Serbian army which comprised a total of 17,000 fighters. Operations before the battle According to the plan the Bulgarians were to advance from the east and the Byzantines from the south and then to join forces somewhere in present-day north Macedonia but their coordination was feeble. In July 1330 Andronikos III invaded Macedonia but after he captured Prilep and five minor fortresses he halted his army and decided to await the outcome of the decisive battle between Bulgarians and Serbs. The Serbian objective was to prevent the joining of the allies and to fight in separate battles. Fearing an attack on Morava valley by the way of Nish the Serbian King gathered his army in the field of Dobrich, on the confluence of the Toplica river into the Morava. Movements of the Bulgarian army On 19 July the Bulgarian army led by the Emperor himself set off from the capital Tarnovo, marched through the Iskar Gorge and Sofia and entered the northern parts of the Struma valley. From there he continued towards Zemen and set his camp in the village of Shishkovtsi On the next day the army reached the important border castle near the modern village of Izvor. From there it was divided into two groups: the main forces under Michael Shishman through the northern parts of the Konyavska mountain (along the border between Bulgaria and Byzantine Empire) and headed towards the Zemen gorge. The smaller part which included the army support went through an easier but longer road through the mountain and arrived between the villages of Konyavo and Dvorishte. Other Bulgarian forces under the command of the Emperor's brother Belaur set off from his