diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index 5c77dfcffe..f0702d0cfa 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
@@ -2618,7 +2618,7 @@ static int module_update(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "progress", &opt.progress,
 			    N_("force cloning progress")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "require-init", &opt.require_init,
-			   N_("disallow cloning into non-empty directory")),
+			   N_("disallow cloning into non-empty directory, implies --init")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "single-branch", &opt.single_branch,
 			 N_("clone only one branch, HEAD or --branch")),
 		OPT_PARSE_LIST_OBJECTS_FILTER(&filter_options),
@@ -2642,6 +2642,9 @@ static int module_update(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, module_update_options,
 			     git_submodule_helper_usage, 0);
 
+	if (opt.require_init)
+		opt.init = 1;
+
 	if (filter_options.choice && !opt.init) {
 		usage_with_options(git_submodule_helper_usage,
 				   module_update_options);
diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index 20fc1b620f..5b9683bf76 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -251,7 +251,6 @@ cmd_update()
 			init=1
 			;;
 		--require-init)
-			init=1
 			require_init=1
 			;;
 		--remote)