Toha began attending school at the age of seven, and continued his studies until the outbreak of World War II.

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Toha joined Seinendan, a paramilitary group organised by the Imperial Japanese Army to train Indonesian youth in hopes of creating a local collaborator army.

Toha spent most of his time helping his grandfather in the district of Sunda, and working in a motor shop in Cikudapateuh.

Fighting broke out between newly arrived Allied forces attempting to reestablish Dutch rule and Indonesian republicans and soldiers following World War II.

Following the evacuations from Bandung, Toha smuggled several sticks of dynamite past Allied troops, and into the Dutch military headquarters in Dayeuh Kolot.