diff --git a/builtin/branch.c b/builtin/branch.c
index 87976f0921..0e50556a15 100644
--- a/builtin/branch.c
+++ b/builtin/branch.c
@@ -667,6 +667,9 @@ int cmd_branch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 
+	if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
+		usage_with_options(builtin_branch_usage, options);
+
 	git_config(git_branch_config, NULL);
 
 	if (branch_use_color == -1)
diff --git a/t/t3200-branch.sh b/t/t3200-branch.sh
index f54a533456..f308235f5d 100755
--- a/t/t3200-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t3200-branch.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,17 @@ test_expect_success \
      ! test -f .git/refs/heads/--help
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'branch -h in broken repository' '
+	mkdir broken &&
+	(
+		cd broken &&
+		git init &&
+		>.git/refs/heads/master &&
+		test_expect_code 129 git branch -h >usage 2>&1
+	) &&
+	grep "[Uu]sage" broken/usage
+'
+
 test_expect_success \
     'git branch abc should create a branch' \
     'git branch abc && test -f .git/refs/heads/abc'