diff --git a/git/fetch/repository.bzl b/git/fetch/repository.bzl
index 967d36b59cae2123034216fe328c27afee67eade..0cb238494059d14ad09181f78e20eb0be46f7e77 100644
--- a/git/fetch/repository.bzl
+++ b/git/fetch/repository.bzl
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def implementation(rctx):
     canonical["commit"] = commit
     canonical["reference"] = reference
 
-    modules = _fetch(rctx, commit = commit, dir = dir, reference = reference)
+    modules = _fetch(rctx, commit = commit, dir = dir, reference = reference, recursive = rctx.attr.recursive)
 
     _dir(rctx, dir = dir)
 
diff --git a/lib/fetch.bzl b/lib/fetch.bzl
index 9ed02a486aa7a3e90cf4d76af1d4079cee33ff49..efdf4b4ef7f677c57e652b4333203b5d537fde2f 100644
--- a/lib/fetch.bzl
+++ b/lib/fetch.bzl
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ Fallback methods activate when a `git` server does not support single SHA fetche
 The fetch ultimately falls back to retrieving all tags and branches. It is unexpected not to be able to find the `{commit}` in the repository after a full depth, through fetch. Check that the SHA is valid and exists in the remote repository.
 """.format(remote = remote, commit = commit))
 
-def _submodules(rctx, module, *, dir, git):
+def _submodules(rctx, module, *, dir, git, recursive = True):
     """
     Fetches a module and determines the submodules, if any.
 
@@ -178,6 +178,9 @@ def _submodules(rctx, module, *, dir, git):
     if result.return_code != 0:
         fail("Failed to fetch `{}#{}`: {}".format(module.remote, module.commit, result.stderr))
 
+    if not recursive:
+        return ()
+
     head = dir.get_child("HEAD")
     rctx.file(head, module.commit, executable = False)
 
@@ -216,18 +219,16 @@ def _modules(rctx, *, remote, commit, reference, dir, git, recursive = True):
         commit = commit,
         reference = reference,
         path = ".",
+        nested = tuple([]),
     )
 
     modules = [root]
 
-    if not recursive:
-        return modules
-
     for i in range(0, 0x7ee7babe):
         if len(modules) <= i:
             break
         module = modules[i]
-        nested = _submodules(rctx, module, git = git, dir = dir)
+        nested = _submodules(rctx, module, git = git, dir = dir, recursive = recursive)
         kw = structs.to_dict(module)
         kw["nested"] = tuple([m.path for m in nested])
         modules[i] = struct(**kw)