diff --git a/builtin/grep.c b/builtin/grep.c
index 5918a26490..2c727ef499 100644
--- a/builtin/grep.c
+++ b/builtin/grep.c
@@ -547,6 +547,7 @@ static int grep_submodule_launch(struct grep_opt *opt,
 		name = gs->name;
 
 	prepare_submodule_repo_env(&cp.env_array);
+	argv_array_push(&cp.env_array, GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT);
 
 	/* Add super prefix */
 	argv_array_pushf(&cp.args, "--super-prefix=%s%s/",
@@ -615,8 +616,23 @@ static int grep_submodule(struct grep_opt *opt, const unsigned char *sha1,
 {
 	if (!is_submodule_initialized(path))
 		return 0;
-	if (!is_submodule_populated(path))
-		return 0;
+	if (!is_submodule_populated(path)) {
+		/*
+		 * If searching history, check for the presense of the
+		 * submodule's gitdir before skipping the submodule.
+		 */
+		if (sha1) {
+			const struct submodule *sub =
+					submodule_from_path(null_sha1, path);
+			if (sub)
+				path = git_path("modules/%s", sub->name);
+
+			if (!(is_directory(path) && is_git_directory(path)))
+				return 0;
+		} else {
+			return 0;
+		}
+	}
 
 #ifndef NO_PTHREADS
 	if (num_threads) {
diff --git a/t/t7814-grep-recurse-submodules.sh b/t/t7814-grep-recurse-submodules.sh
index d5fc31638e..67247a01d6 100755
--- a/t/t7814-grep-recurse-submodules.sh
+++ b/t/t7814-grep-recurse-submodules.sh
@@ -186,6 +186,47 @@ test_expect_success !MINGW 'grep recurse submodule colon in name' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'grep history with moved submoules' '
+	git init parent &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf parent" &&
+	echo "foobar" >parent/file &&
+	git -C parent add file &&
+	git -C parent commit -m "add file" &&
+
+	git init sub &&
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf sub" &&
+	echo "foobar" >sub/file &&
+	git -C sub add file &&
+	git -C sub commit -m "add file" &&
+
+	git -C parent submodule add ../sub dir/sub &&
+	git -C parent commit -m "add submodule" &&
+
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	dir/sub/file:foobar
+	file:foobar
+	EOF
+	git -C parent grep -e "foobar" --recurse-submodules >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual &&
+
+	git -C parent mv dir/sub sub-moved &&
+	git -C parent commit -m "moved submodule" &&
+
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	file:foobar
+	sub-moved/file:foobar
+	EOF
+	git -C parent grep -e "foobar" --recurse-submodules >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual &&
+
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	HEAD^:dir/sub/file:foobar
+	HEAD^:file:foobar
+	EOF
+	git -C parent grep -e "foobar" --recurse-submodules HEAD^ >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_incompatible_with_recurse_submodules ()
 {
 	test_expect_success "--recurse-submodules and $1 are incompatible" "