Abandoned Engineering

During the war, an Albanian village that sheltered Allied covert operatives was razed as punishment for its resistance to the Nazi regime. Across the Atlantic, an infamous American asylum gained notoriety for carrying out compulsory lobotomies on its patients in the mid‑20th century.

Behind Enemy Lines is a programme episode that presents two starkly contrasting historical settings. The series frames its narrative around places that became flashpoints in the wider conflict, linking a remote Balkan community with a controversial medical institution in the United States. Its structure follows the format of a single episode within the larger programme. The first segment centres on an Albanian village that housed Allied secret agents during the war. Because the residents resisted the Nazi war machine, the settlement was brutally razed as a punitive measure. The second part shifts across the Atlantic to a notorious American asylum, remembered for the compulsory lobotomies it performed on its patients. In the Albanian locale, the community’s role as a covert base for Allied operatives made it a target for German retaliation. The villagers’ defiance against the occupying forces led to widespread devastation, underscoring the harsh consequences faced by those who aided the resistance. Across the ocean, the American asylum earned its infamy by enforcing lobotomies, a practice that reflected the extreme approaches taken within psychiatric care at the time. The institution’s reputation rests on this controversial medical procedure, marking it as a grim chapter in the history of mental health treatment.