Zoya's friend at the sabotage school of Claudia Miloradova claims that one of the homes burned by Zoya was used as a German communications center. [24] The house of the Voronin family in the village was actually used as a headquarters for the officers of the troops to be moved, but was not burned. Many members of the sabotage group note that houses were burned in which German soldiers spent the night, and also kept their horses used for transportation of military cargoes in the yards.[9] The writer A. Zhovtis calls into question these versions, citing the fact that officially Petrishchevo was not a point of permanent deployment of German troops.[9] However, his words are denied by the villagers themselves, indicating that virtually all the houses of the village were used for sleeping over the German troops transported along the main roads near the village.[9] After the first attempt at arson, Krainov did not wait for Zoya and Klubkov at the agreed meeting place and left, returning to his own.