diff --git a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
index 3478a9e63..c14f67af5 100644
--- a/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
+++ b/vcs/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/vcs/git/GitRepository.java
@@ -1178,6 +1178,7 @@ public void pull(String remote, String refspec) throws IOException {
         var cmd = new ArrayList<String>();
         cmd.add("git");
         cmd.add("pull");
+        cmd.add("--recurse-submodules");
         if (remote != null) {
             cmd.add(remote);
         }