diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
index bf3bb372ee..d841573475 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
@@ -259,7 +259,9 @@ OPTIONS
 --branch::
 	Branch of repository to add as submodule.
 	The name of the branch is recorded as `submodule.<name>.branch` in
-	`.gitmodules` for `update --remote`.
+	`.gitmodules` for `update --remote`.  A special value of `.` is used to
+	indicate that the name of the branch in the submodule should be the
+	same name as the current branch in the current repository.
 
 -f::
 --force::
diff --git a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
index 10dcc08ff9..8f7c50f330 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
@@ -50,8 +50,11 @@ submodule.<name>.update::
 
 submodule.<name>.branch::
 	A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule.
-	If the option is not specified, it defaults to 'master'.  See the
-	`--remote` documentation in linkgit:git-submodule[1] for details.
+	If the option is not specified, it defaults to 'master'.  A special
+	value of `.` is used to indicate that the name of the branch in the
+	submodule should be the same name as the current branch in the
+	current repository.  See the `--remote` documentation in
+	linkgit:git-submodule[1] for details.
 
 submodule.<name>.fetchRecurseSubmodules::
 	This option can be used to control recursive fetching of this