diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amashchenko/maven/plugin/gitflow/AbstractGitFlowMojo.java b/src/main/java/com/amashchenko/maven/plugin/gitflow/AbstractGitFlowMojo.java
index 39dc022b..faaf7f45 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amashchenko/maven/plugin/gitflow/AbstractGitFlowMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amashchenko/maven/plugin/gitflow/AbstractGitFlowMojo.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import org.apache.maven.settings.Settings;
 import org.apache.maven.shared.release.policy.version.VersionPolicy;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.components.interactivity.Prompter;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.util.FileUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.StringUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.cli.CommandLineException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.cli.CommandLineUtils;
@@ -83,6 +84,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractGitFlowMojo extends AbstractMojo {
     /** Command line for Maven executable. */
     private final Commandline cmdMvn = new Commandline();
 
+    /** Whether .gitmodules file exists in project. */
+    private final boolean gitModulesExists;
+
     /** Git flow configuration. */
     @Parameter(defaultValue = "${gitFlowConfig}")
     protected GitFlowConfig gitFlowConfig;
@@ -225,6 +229,15 @@ public abstract class AbstractGitFlowMojo extends AbstractMojo {
     @Parameter(property = "gitPushOptions")
     private String gitPushOptions;
 
+    /**
+     * Explicitly enable or disable executing submodule update before commit. By
+     * default plugin tries to automatically determine if update of the Git
+     * submodules is needed.
+     * 
+     */
+    @Parameter(property = "updateGitSubmodules")
+    private Boolean updateGitSubmodules;
+
     /**
      * The path to the Maven executable. Defaults to "mvn".
      */
@@ -253,6 +266,10 @@ public abstract class AbstractGitFlowMojo extends AbstractMojo {
     @Component
     protected Map<String, VersionPolicy> versionPolicies;
 
+    public AbstractGitFlowMojo() {
+        gitModulesExists = FileUtils.fileExists(".gitmodules");
+    }
+
     /**
      * Initializes command line executables.
      * 
@@ -807,6 +824,11 @@ protected void gitCommit(final String message) throws MojoFailureException, Comm
      */
     protected void gitCommit(String message, Map<String, String> messageProperties)
             throws MojoFailureException, CommandLineException {
+        if ((gitModulesExists && updateGitSubmodules == null) || Boolean.TRUE.equals(updateGitSubmodules)) {
+            getLog().info("Updating git submodules before commit.");
+            executeGitCommand("submodule", "update");
+        }
+
         if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(commitMessagePrefix)) {
             message = commitMessagePrefix + message;
         }