After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the chaos at the eastern front, Chruściel's regiment was the only unit in the entire Austro-Hungarian Army to return to the barracks as an organized entity and with arms.

Transferred to the Cadet Corps, in 1931 he graduated from the Higher War School in Warsaw and became a professor in the Infantry Training Centre in Rembertów.

Chruściel's regiment was secretly mobilised between 23 and 27 March 1939, and moved to the village of Szczerców where it formed a defensive line at the Widawka River.

Initially head of the 3rd division of its staff, responsible for training and tactics, since October of that year Chruściel held the post of deputy commander of the City of Warsaw ZWZ region.

On 31 July 1944, the Polish commanders General Bór-Komorowski and Colonel Antoni Chruściel ordered full mobilization of Home Army forces for 17:00 the following day.

The entire force, renamed the Warsaw Home Army Corps (Polish: Warszawski Korpus Armii Krajowej) and commanded by General Antoni Chruściel—promoted from Colonel on 14 September—formed into three infantry divisions (Śródmieście, Żoliborz and Mokotów).

After the Uprising, Antoni Chruściel was taken prisoner of war by the Germans and interned in the camps of Stalag XIII-D in Langwasser near Nuremberg and then the famous Oflag IV-C in Colditz Castle.

On 30 July 2004, that is on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the uprising, Antoni Chruściel and his wife Waleria were given a state funeral at Warsaw's Powązki Military Cemetery.