diff --git a/Documentation/config/fetch.adoc b/Documentation/config/fetch.adoc
index 00435e9a16..20bf199b44 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/fetch.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/config/fetch.adoc
@@ -10,6 +10,20 @@
 	reference.
 	Defaults to `on-demand`, or to the value of `submodule.recurse` if set.
 
+`fetch.submoduleErrors`::
+	Controls how errors from submodule fetches are handled when
+	`--recurse-submodules` is in effect. When set to `fail` (the default),
+	any submodule fetch error causes the overall `git fetch` or `git pull`
+	to exit with a non-zero status. When set to `warn`, submodule fetch
+	errors are reported to standard error but do not affect the exit
+	status of the command. This is useful when working in repositories
+	where some branches reference submodule commits that are not yet
+	available on the submodule remote, but those commits are not needed
+	for the currently checked-out branch.
++
+The value of this option can be overridden by the `--submodule-errors`
+option of linkgit:git-fetch[1].
+
 `fetch.fsckObjects`::
 	If it is set to true, git-fetch-pack will check all fetched
 	objects. See `transfer.fsckObjects` for what's
diff --git a/Documentation/fetch-options.adoc b/Documentation/fetch-options.adoc
index 035f780e58..78525f6848 100644
--- a/Documentation/fetch-options.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/fetch-options.adoc
@@ -294,6 +294,14 @@ ifndef::git-pull[]
 `--no-recurse-submodules`::
 	Disable recursive fetching of submodules (this has the same effect as
 	using the `--recurse-submodules=no` option).
+
+`--submodule-errors=(fail|warn)`::
+	Control how errors from submodule fetches are handled when
+	`--recurse-submodules` is in effect. When set to `fail` (the default),
+	any submodule fetch error causes the overall `git fetch` to exit with a
+	non-zero status. When set to `warn`, submodule fetch errors are reported
+	to standard error but do not affect the exit status of the command. Can
+	also be configured via `fetch.submoduleErrors`. See linkgit:git-config[1].
 endif::git-pull[]
 
 `--set-upstream`::
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index ab7db2be06..a492b2809f 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -111,8 +111,30 @@ struct fetch_config {
 	int recurse_submodules;
 	int parallel;
 	int submodule_fetch_jobs;
+	int submodule_errors;
 };
 
+/* really private - use accessors below to parse and format */
+static const char *submodule_error_name[] = {
+	[SUBMODULE_ERRORS_FAIL] = "fail",
+	[SUBMODULE_ERRORS_WARN] = "warn",
+};
+
+static const char *submodule_error(unsigned num)
+{
+	if (ARRAY_SIZE(submodule_error_name) <= num)
+		BUG("invalid submodule errors mode %u", num);
+	return submodule_error_name[num];
+}
+
+static int parse_submodule_error(const char *name)
+{
+	for (unsigned num = 0; num < ARRAY_SIZE(submodule_error_name); num++)
+		if (!strcmp(submodule_error_name[num], name))
+			return num;
+	return -1;
+}
+
 static int git_fetch_config(const char *k, const char *v,
 			    const struct config_context *ctx, void *cb)
 {
@@ -153,6 +175,19 @@ static int git_fetch_config(const char *k, const char *v,
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(k, "fetch.submoduleerrors")) {
+		int mode;
+
+		if (!v)
+			return config_error_nonbool(k);
+		mode = parse_submodule_error(v);
+		if (mode < 0)
+			die(_("invalid value for '%s': '%s'"),
+			    "fetch.submoduleErrors", v);
+		fetch_config->submodule_errors = mode;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (!strcmp(k, "fetch.parallel")) {
 		fetch_config->parallel = git_config_int(k, v, ctx->kvi);
 		if (fetch_config->parallel < 0)
@@ -2243,6 +2278,9 @@ static void add_options_to_argv(struct strvec *argv,
 		strvec_push(argv, "--no-recurse-submodules");
 	else if (config->recurse_submodules == RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON_DEMAND)
 		strvec_push(argv, "--recurse-submodules=on-demand");
+	if (config->submodule_errors != -1)
+		strvec_pushf(argv, "--submodule-errors=%s",
+			     submodule_error(config->submodule_errors));
 	if (tags == TAGS_SET)
 		strvec_push(argv, "--tags");
 	else if (tags == TAGS_UNSET)
@@ -2502,6 +2540,23 @@ static int fetch_one(struct remote *remote, int argc, const char **argv,
 	return exit_code;
 }
 
+static int option_parse_submodule_errors(const struct option *opt,
+					  const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+	int *v = opt->value;
+	int mode;
+
+	if (unset) {
+		*v = SUBMODULE_ERRORS_FAIL;
+		return 0;
+	}
+	mode = parse_submodule_error(arg);
+	if (mode < 0)
+		die(_("invalid value for '%s': '%s'"), "--submodule-errors", arg);
+	*v = mode;
+	return 0;
+}
+
 int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 	      const char **argv,
 	      const char *prefix,
@@ -2516,6 +2571,7 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 		.recurse_submodules = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT,
 		.parallel = 1,
 		.submodule_fetch_jobs = -1,
+		.submodule_errors = -1, /* unset */
 	};
 	const char *submodule_prefix = "";
 	const char *bundle_uri;
@@ -2530,6 +2586,7 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 	int max_jobs = -1;
 	int recurse_submodules_cli = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT;
 	int recurse_submodules_default = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON_DEMAND;
+	int submodule_errors_cli = -1; /* -1: not set on command line */
 	int fetch_write_commit_graph = -1;
 	int stdin_refspecs = 0;
 	int negotiate_only = 0;
@@ -2566,6 +2623,10 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "recurse-submodules", &recurse_submodules_cli, N_("on-demand"),
 			    N_("control recursive fetching of submodules"),
 			    PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_fetch_parse_recurse_submodules),
+		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "submodule-errors", &submodule_errors_cli,
+			    N_("(fail|warn)"),
+			    N_("control how submodule fetch errors are handled"),
+			    0, option_parse_submodule_errors),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "dry-run", &dry_run,
 			 N_("dry run")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "porcelain", &porcelain, N_("machine-readable output")),
@@ -2657,6 +2718,9 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 	if (recurse_submodules_cli != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT)
 		config.recurse_submodules = recurse_submodules_cli;
 
+	if (submodule_errors_cli != -1)
+		config.submodule_errors = submodule_errors_cli;
+
 	if (negotiate_only) {
 		switch (recurse_submodules_cli) {
 		case RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF:
@@ -2860,11 +2924,14 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 	if (!result && remote && (config.recurse_submodules != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF)) {
 		struct strvec options = STRVEC_INIT;
 		int max_children = max_jobs;
+		int submodule_errors = config.submodule_errors;
 
 		if (max_children < 0)
 			max_children = config.submodule_fetch_jobs;
 		if (max_children < 0)
 			max_children = config.parallel;
+		if (submodule_errors < 0)
+			submodule_errors = SUBMODULE_ERRORS_FAIL;
 
 		add_options_to_argv(&options, &config);
 		trace2_region_enter_printf("fetch", "recurse-submodule", the_repository, "%s", submodule_prefix);
@@ -2874,7 +2941,8 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 					  config.recurse_submodules,
 					  recurse_submodules_default,
 					  verbosity < 0,
-					  max_children);
+					  max_children,
+					  submodule_errors);
 		trace2_region_leave_printf("fetch", "recurse-submodule", the_repository, "%s", submodule_prefix);
 		strvec_clear(&options);
 	}
diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index 5c92575888..9eed3cb85b 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -1409,6 +1409,7 @@ struct submodule_parallel_fetch {
 	int oid_fetch_tasks_nr, oid_fetch_tasks_alloc;
 
 	struct strbuf submodules_with_errors;
+	int submodule_errors;
 };
 #define SPF_INIT { \
 	.args = STRVEC_INIT, \
@@ -1562,6 +1563,14 @@ static struct fetch_task *fetch_task_create(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+static void record_fetch_error(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf,
+			       const char *name)
+{
+	if (spf->submodule_errors == SUBMODULE_ERRORS_FAIL)
+		spf->result = 1;
+	strbuf_addf(&spf->submodules_with_errors, "\t%s\n", name);
+}
+
 static struct fetch_task *
 get_fetch_task_from_index(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf,
 			  struct strbuf *err)
@@ -1599,7 +1608,7 @@ get_fetch_task_from_index(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf,
 							ce->name);
 			if (S_ISGITLINK(ce->ce_mode) &&
 			    !is_empty_dir(empty_submodule_path.buf)) {
-				spf->result = 1;
+				record_fetch_error(spf, ce->name);
 				strbuf_addf(err,
 					    _("Could not access submodule '%s'\n"),
 					    ce->name);
@@ -1753,7 +1762,7 @@ static int fetch_start_failure(struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
 	struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf = cb;
 	struct fetch_task *task = task_cb;
 
-	spf->result = 1;
+	record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
 
 	fetch_task_free(task);
 	return 0;
@@ -1779,18 +1788,12 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
 	if (!task || !task->sub)
 		BUG("callback cookie bogus");
 
-	if (retvalue) {
+	if (retvalue && task->commits) {
 		/*
-		 * NEEDSWORK: This indicates that the overall fetch
-		 * failed, even though there may be a subsequent fetch
-		 * by commit hash that might work. It may be a good
-		 * idea to not indicate failure in this case, and only
-		 * indicate failure if the subsequent fetch fails.
+		 * This is the second pass (OID-based fetch) and it failed.
+		 * The commits are genuinely unavailable from the remote.
 		 */
-		spf->result = 1;
-
-		strbuf_addf(&spf->submodules_with_errors, "\t%s\n",
-			    task->sub->name);
+		record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
 	}
 
 	/* Is this the second time we process this submodule? */
@@ -1798,9 +1801,17 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
 		goto out;
 
 	it = string_list_lookup(&spf->changed_submodule_names, task->sub->name);
-	if (!it)
-		/* Could be an unchanged submodule, not contained in the list */
+	if (!it) {
+		/*
+		 * This submodule is not in the changed list (e.g. it was
+		 * fetched because RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON fetches all populated
+		 * submodules). A phase 1 failure here has no OID-based retry
+		 * to fall back on, so it is a genuine error.
+		 */
+		if (retvalue)
+			record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
 		goto out;
+	}
 
 	cs_data = it->util;
 	oid_array_filter(&cs_data->new_commits,
@@ -1809,6 +1820,11 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
 
 	/* Are there commits we want, but do not exist? */
 	if (cs_data->new_commits.nr) {
+		/*
+		 * Schedule an OID-based phase 2 fetch to retrieve the missing
+		 * commits directly. Defer any error from phase 1: if phase 2
+		 * succeeds, the overall operation should still succeed.
+		 */
 		task->commits = &cs_data->new_commits;
 		ALLOC_GROW(spf->oid_fetch_tasks,
 			   spf->oid_fetch_tasks_nr + 1,
@@ -1818,6 +1834,16 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * All required commits are already present locally (they were either
+	 * fetched by phase 1 or existed beforehand), so there is no phase 2
+	 * retry to defer to. If phase 1 failed, the fetch itself went wrong
+	 * (e.g. a transport error) and must still be reported, even though
+	 * the gitlinked commits are available.
+	 */
+	if (retvalue)
+		record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
+
 out:
 	fetch_task_free(task);
 	return 0;
@@ -1827,7 +1853,8 @@ int fetch_submodules(struct repository *r,
 		     const struct strvec *options,
 		     const char *prefix, int command_line_option,
 		     int default_option,
-		     int quiet, int max_parallel_jobs)
+		     int quiet, int max_parallel_jobs,
+		     int submodule_errors)
 {
 	struct submodule_parallel_fetch spf = SPF_INIT;
 	const struct run_process_parallel_opts opts = {
@@ -1847,6 +1874,7 @@ int fetch_submodules(struct repository *r,
 	spf.default_option = default_option;
 	spf.quiet = quiet;
 	spf.prefix = prefix;
+	spf.submodule_errors = submodule_errors;
 
 	if (!r->worktree)
 		goto out;
diff --git a/submodule.h b/submodule.h
index b10e16e6c0..c80b687d2a 100644
--- a/submodule.h
+++ b/submodule.h
@@ -90,12 +90,17 @@ int should_update_submodules(void);
  */
 const struct submodule *submodule_from_ce(const struct cache_entry *ce);
 void check_for_new_submodule_commits(struct object_id *oid);
+/* Values for the submodule_errors parameter of fetch_submodules(). */
+#define SUBMODULE_ERRORS_FAIL 0  /* submodule fetch errors are fatal (default) */
+#define SUBMODULE_ERRORS_WARN 1  /* submodule fetch errors are non-fatal warnings */
+
 int fetch_submodules(struct repository *r,
 		     const struct strvec *options,
 		     const char *prefix,
 		     int command_line_option,
 		     int default_option,
-		     int quiet, int max_parallel_jobs);
+		     int quiet, int max_parallel_jobs,
+		     int submodule_errors);
 unsigned is_submodule_modified(const char *path, int ignore_untracked);
 int submodule_uses_gitfile(const char *path);
 
diff --git a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
index 7b3b7359da..3456e36644 100755
--- a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
+++ b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
@@ -1262,4 +1262,165 @@ test_expect_success "fetch --all with --no-recurse-submodules only fetches super
 	test_grep ! "Fetching submodule" fetch-log
 '
 
+# Create an isolated environment for submodule fetch error tests.
+#
+# Sets up sub_bare (the submodule upstream), super_bare (the superproject
+# upstream), super_work (a working clone of super_bare with an initialized
+# submodule), and clone (a clone of super_bare with an initialized submodule
+# at a reachable commit). The caller can then create an unreachable commit
+# and push the superproject to put the clone one commit behind a state it
+# cannot fully fetch.
+#
+# Usage: create_err_env <envdir>
+create_err_env () {
+	local envdir="$1" &&
+	mkdir "$envdir" &&
+
+	git init --bare "$envdir/sub_bare" &&
+	git clone "$envdir/sub_bare" "$envdir/sub_work" &&
+	test_commit -C "$envdir/sub_work" "${envdir}_base" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/sub_work" push &&
+
+	git init --bare "$envdir/super_bare" &&
+	git clone "$envdir/super_bare" "$envdir/super_work" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work" submodule add \
+		"$pwd/$envdir/sub_bare" sub &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work" commit -m "add submodule" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work" push &&
+
+	git clone "$envdir/super_bare" "$envdir/clone" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/clone" submodule update --init
+}
+
+# Push a commit to <envdir>/super_bare that records a submodule SHA that is
+# present locally in super_work/sub but NOT pushed to sub_bare, making the
+# submodule commit unreachable from clone's sub remote.
+push_unreachable_commit () {
+	local envdir="$1" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work/sub" commit --allow-empty -m "unreachable" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work" add sub &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work" commit -m "point sub to unreachable commit" &&
+	git -C "$envdir/super_work" push
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'setup for submodule fetch error tests' '
+	git config --global protocol.file.allow always
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'fetch --recurse-submodules fails when submodule commit is unreachable (default)' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_default" &&
+	create_err_env env_default &&
+	push_unreachable_commit env_default &&
+	test_must_fail git -C env_default/clone fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'fetch.submoduleErrors=warn: unreachable submodule commit is non-fatal' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_warn_cfg" &&
+	create_err_env env_warn_cfg &&
+	push_unreachable_commit env_warn_cfg &&
+	git -C env_warn_cfg/clone -c fetch.submoduleErrors=warn \
+		fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--submodule-errors=warn: unreachable submodule commit is non-fatal' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_warn_cli" &&
+	create_err_env env_warn_cli &&
+	push_unreachable_commit env_warn_cli &&
+	git -C env_warn_cli/clone fetch --recurse-submodules \
+		--submodule-errors=warn 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--submodule-errors=fail: unreachable submodule commit is fatal' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_fail_cli" &&
+	create_err_env env_fail_cli &&
+	push_unreachable_commit env_fail_cli &&
+	test_must_fail git -C env_fail_cli/clone fetch --recurse-submodules \
+		--submodule-errors=fail 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'fetch.submoduleErrors=warn does not suppress successful fetch' '
+	# A new reachable submodule commit (pushed to sub_bare) should be
+	# fetched without any error summary.
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_ok" &&
+	create_err_env env_ok &&
+	test_commit -C env_ok/sub_work reachable_ok &&
+	git -C env_ok/sub_work push &&
+	git -C env_ok/super_work submodule update --remote &&
+	git -C env_ok/super_work add sub &&
+	git -C env_ok/super_work commit -m "point sub to reachable commit" &&
+	git -C env_ok/super_work push &&
+	git -C env_ok/clone -c fetch.submoduleErrors=warn \
+		fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+	test_grep ! "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'failed submodule fetch is fatal even when its commits are present locally' '
+	# Create the same commit (unreferenced, via commit-tree with fixed
+	# dates) in both super_work/sub and clone/sub, point the gitlink at
+	# it, and break clone/sub'\''s remote. The commit exists in clone/sub
+	# but is unreachable, so the submodule stays in the changed list; the
+	# fetch failure must still be reported even though there is nothing
+	# left to fetch by commit hash.
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_phase1" &&
+	create_err_env env_phase1 &&
+	commit=$(GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+		 GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+		 git -C env_phase1/super_work/sub commit-tree \
+			"HEAD^{tree}" -p HEAD -m present) &&
+	present=$(GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+		  GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+		  git -C env_phase1/clone/sub commit-tree \
+			"HEAD^{tree}" -p HEAD -m present) &&
+	test "$commit" = "$present" &&
+	git -C env_phase1/super_work/sub checkout "$commit" &&
+	git -C env_phase1/super_work add sub &&
+	git -C env_phase1/super_work commit -m "gitlink to locally-present commit" &&
+	git -C env_phase1/super_work push &&
+	git -C env_phase1/clone/sub remote set-url origin "$pwd/env_phase1/missing" &&
+	test_must_fail git -C env_phase1/clone fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--submodule-errors=warn is honored by fetch --all' '
+	# A second remote forces fetch_multiple(), which hands the submodule
+	# recursion off to per-remote child processes; the option must be
+	# forwarded to them.
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_all" &&
+	create_err_env env_all &&
+	push_unreachable_commit env_all &&
+	git -C env_all/clone remote add second "$pwd/env_all/super_bare" &&
+	git -C env_all/clone fetch --all --recurse-submodules \
+		--submodule-errors=warn 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--submodule-errors=fail overrides warn config for fetch --all' '
+	# The per-remote child processes re-read the repository config, so
+	# the command-line override must be forwarded to them explicitly.
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_override" &&
+	create_err_env env_override &&
+	push_unreachable_commit env_override &&
+	git -C env_override/clone remote add second "$pwd/env_override/super_bare" &&
+	git -C env_override/clone config fetch.submoduleErrors warn &&
+	test_must_fail git -C env_override/clone fetch --all --recurse-submodules \
+		--submodule-errors=fail 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'fetch.submoduleErrors=warn: inaccessible submodule is non-fatal' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -fr env_access" &&
+	create_err_env env_access &&
+	rm env_access/clone/sub/.git &&
+	rm -r env_access/clone/.git/modules/sub &&
+	git -C env_access/clone -c fetch.submoduleErrors=warn \
+		fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Could not access submodule" err &&
+	test_must_fail git -C env_access/clone fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+	test_grep "Could not access submodule" err
+'
+
 test_done