22 March] 1884. the son of David Ioganovich Grendal, a Swedish-speaking Finnish reserve officer in the Russian Imperial Army.

[1][2] Grendal graduated from the Pskov Cadet Corps in 1902 and entered the Mikhailovskoye Artillery School.

For his "courage and bravery," Grendal was decorated nine times and reached the rank of polkovnik (colonel) by 1917.

[3] Siding with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War, Grendal was appointed inspector of artillery of the Southern Front in October 1918.

In 1925, Grendal was appointed deputy inspector, and in may of the same year inspected of the artillery of the Red Army.

[3] During the Winter War, Grendal initially served as the representative of the Main Artillery Directorate, then commanded an operational group of two rifle divisions that together with reinforcements formed the 13th Army.

Ten days before the end of the war, on 3 March, Grendal was demoted to command the artillery of the Northwestern Front due to the slow pace of the army's advance and replaced by Filipp Parusinov.