diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index 6531c5d609..37f4a92872 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -1641,7 +1641,8 @@ int submodule_move_head(const char *path,
 			cp.dir = path;
 
 			prepare_submodule_repo_env(&cp.env_array);
-			argv_array_pushl(&cp.args, "update-ref", "HEAD", new, NULL);
+			argv_array_pushl(&cp.args, "update-ref", "HEAD",
+					 "--no-deref", new, NULL);
 
 			if (run_command(&cp)) {
 				ret = -1;
diff --git a/t/lib-submodule-update.sh b/t/lib-submodule-update.sh
index 2d26f86800..fc406b95d7 100755
--- a/t/lib-submodule-update.sh
+++ b/t/lib-submodule-update.sh
@@ -848,6 +848,23 @@ test_submodule_switch_recursing_with_args () {
 			test_submodule_content sub1 origin/add_sub1
 		)
 	'
+	test_expect_success "$command: submodule branch is not changed, detach HEAD instead" '
+		prolog &&
+		reset_work_tree_to_interested add_sub1 &&
+		(
+			cd submodule_update &&
+			git -C sub1 checkout -b keep_branch &&
+			git -C sub1 rev-parse HEAD >expect &&
+			git branch -t check-keep origin/modify_sub1 &&
+			$command check-keep &&
+			test_superproject_content origin/modify_sub1 &&
+			test_submodule_content sub1 origin/modify_sub1 &&
+			git -C sub1 rev-parse keep_branch >actual &&
+			test_cmp expect actual &&
+			test_must_fail git -C sub1 symbolic-ref HEAD
+		)
+	'
+
 	# Replacing a tracked file with a submodule produces a checked out submodule
 	test_expect_success "$command: replace tracked file with submodule checks out submodule" '
 		prolog &&