diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index 71107249c7..13bebba228 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ machine:
 checkout:
   post:
     # workaround for known git bug where attempting to fetch a missing commit fails early on the first try
-    - git submodule update --init || true
+    - git submodule update --init --recursive || true
     - git submodule sync --recursive
-    - git submodule update --init --recursive
+    - git submodule deinit -f .
+    - git submodule update --init --recursive --force
 
 dependencies:
   pre: