diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index 4a628fdc88..535deaa1d4 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ checkout:
     # workaround for known git bug where attempting to fetch a missing commit fails early on the first try
     - git submodule update --init --recursive || true
     - git submodule sync --recursive
-    - git submodule deinit -f .
+    - git submodule deinit -f . && rm -rf .git/modules
     - git submodule update --init --recursive --force
 
 dependencies: