diff --git a/combine-diff.c b/combine-diff.c
index 6a9f3683c5..15f369e8e6 100644
--- a/combine-diff.c
+++ b/combine-diff.c
@@ -776,8 +776,52 @@ int show_combined_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
 	return shown_header;
 }
 
-int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1,
-			     const char *header, int dense)
+#define COLONS "::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::"
+
+static void show_raw_diff(struct combine_diff_path *p, int num_parent, const char *header, struct diff_options *opt)
+{
+	int i, offset, mod_type = 'A';
+	const char *prefix;
+	int line_termination, inter_name_termination;
+
+	line_termination = opt->line_termination;
+	inter_name_termination = '\t';
+	if (!line_termination)
+		inter_name_termination = 0;
+
+	if (header)
+		puts(header);
+	offset = strlen(COLONS) - num_parent;
+	if (offset < 0)
+		offset = 0;
+	prefix = COLONS + offset;
+
+	/* Show the modes */
+	for (i = 0; i < num_parent; i++) {
+		int mode = p->parent[i].mode;
+		if (mode)
+			mod_type = 'M';
+		printf("%s%06o", prefix, mode);
+		prefix = " ";
+	}
+	printf("%s%06o", prefix, p->mode);
+	if (!p->mode)
+		mod_type = 'D';
+
+	/* Show sha1's */
+	for (i = 0; i < num_parent; i++) {
+		printf("%s%s", prefix, diff_unique_abbrev(p->parent[i].sha1, opt->abbrev));
+		prefix = " ";
+	}
+	printf("%s%s", prefix, diff_unique_abbrev(p->sha1, opt->abbrev));
+
+	/* Modification type, terminations, filename */
+	printf(" %c%c%s%c", mod_type, inter_name_termination, p->path, line_termination);
+}
+
+const char *diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1,
+			     const char *header, int dense,
+			     struct diff_options *opt)
 {
 	struct commit *commit = lookup_commit(sha1);
 	struct diff_options diffopts;
@@ -815,6 +859,11 @@ int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1,
 		for (p = paths; p; p = p->next) {
 			if (!p->len)
 				continue;
+			if (opt->output_format == DIFF_FORMAT_RAW) {
+				show_raw_diff(p, num_parent, header, opt);
+				header = NULL;
+				continue;
+			}
 			if (show_combined_diff(p, num_parent, dense, header))
 				header = NULL;
 		}
@@ -826,5 +875,5 @@ int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1,
 		paths = paths->next;
 		free(tmp);
 	}
-	return 0;
+	return header;
 }
diff --git a/diff-tree.c b/diff-tree.c
index 7148323348..df6fd97fca 100644
--- a/diff-tree.c
+++ b/diff-tree.c
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ static int show_root_diff = 0;
 static int no_commit_id = 0;
 static int verbose_header = 0;
 static int ignore_merges = 1;
-static int combine_merges = 0;
+static int combine_merges = 1;
 static int dense_combined_merges = 0;
 static int read_stdin = 0;
 static int always_show_header = 0;
@@ -117,8 +117,12 @@ static int diff_tree_commit(struct commit *commit)
 			return 0;
 		else if (combine_merges) {
 			header = generate_header(sha1, sha1, commit);
-			return diff_tree_combined_merge(sha1, header,
-							dense_combined_merges);
+			header = diff_tree_combined_merge(sha1, header,
+							dense_combined_merges,
+							&diff_options);
+			if (!header && verbose_header)
+				header_prefix = "\ndiff-tree ";
+			return 0;
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -285,10 +289,12 @@ int main(int argc, const char **argv)
 		usage(diff_tree_usage);
 	}
 
-	if (combine_merges) {
-		diff_options.output_format = DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH;
+	if (combine_merges)
 		ignore_merges = 0;
-	}
+
+	/* We can only do dense combined merges with diff output */
+	if (dense_combined_merges)
+		diff_options.output_format = DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH;
 
 	if (diff_options.output_format == DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH)
 		diff_options.recursive = 1;
diff --git a/diff.h b/diff.h
index 5c5e7fa91f..9088519af0 100644
--- a/diff.h
+++ b/diff.h
@@ -74,10 +74,10 @@ struct combine_diff_path {
 	(sizeof(struct combine_diff_path) + \
 	 sizeof(struct combine_diff_parent) * (n) + (l) + 1)
 
-int show_combined_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
-		       int dense, const char *header);
+extern int show_combined_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
+			      int dense, const char *header);
 
-extern int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1, const char *, int);
+extern const char *diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1, const char *, int, struct diff_options *opt);
 
 extern void diff_addremove(struct diff_options *,
 			   int addremove,