diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleDeinitTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleDeinitTest.java
index df4b96398..815ce9b35 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleDeinitTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleDeinitTest.java
@@ -136,10 +136,12 @@ public class SubmoduleDeinitTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
 		generator.next();
 
 		//want to create a commit inside the repo...
-		Repository submoduleLocalRepo = generator.getRepository();
-		JGitTestUtil.writeTrashFile(submoduleLocalRepo, "file.txt", "new data");
-		Git.wrap(submoduleLocalRepo).commit().setAll(true).setMessage("local commit").call();
-
+		try (Repository submoduleLocalRepo = generator.getRepository()) {
+			JGitTestUtil.writeTrashFile(submoduleLocalRepo, "file.txt",
+					"new data");
+			Git.wrap(submoduleLocalRepo).commit().setAll(true)
+					.setMessage("local commit").call();
+		}
 		SubmoduleDeinitResult result = runDeinit(new SubmoduleDeinitCommand(db).addPath("sub"));
 		assertEquals(path, result.getPath());
 		assertEquals(SubmoduleDeinitCommand.SubmoduleDeinitStatus.DIRTY, result.getStatus());
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleDeinitCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleDeinitCommand.java
index 569a8e359..5a0528b0f 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleDeinitCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleDeinitCommand.java
@@ -227,11 +227,11 @@ public class SubmoduleDeinitCommand
 				return SubmoduleDeinitStatus.DIRTY;
 			}
 
-			Repository submoduleRepo = w.getRepository();
-
-			Status status = Git.wrap(submoduleRepo).status().call();
-			return status.isClean() ? SubmoduleDeinitStatus.SUCCESS
-					: SubmoduleDeinitStatus.DIRTY;
+			try (Repository submoduleRepo = w.getRepository()) {
+				Status status = Git.wrap(submoduleRepo).status().call();
+				return status.isClean() ? SubmoduleDeinitStatus.SUCCESS
+						: SubmoduleDeinitStatus.DIRTY;
+			}
 		}
 	}