He fought for the Red Guards in the 1918 Finnish Civil War and was captured by the Whites after the Battle of Tampere in 6 April in Pispala.

Anttila joined the exile Communist Party of Finland in Saint Petersburg and took an officer course in the international class of the Bolshevik military academy.

He fought in the Russian Civil War, took part of the repression of the 1921 Kronstadt rebellion and was wounded in East Karelia in January 1922.

He also served as a colonel in the staff of the general Dmitry Pavlov who commanded a brigade of Soviet tanks.

September 1944 Anttila returned the Western Front and took part of the Battle of Berlin under the command of the field marshal Georgy Zhukov.