diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommandTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommandTest.java
index 71df59e1f..498005ded 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommandTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommandTest.java
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ public class CheckoutCommandTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void testCheckoutWithConflict() {
+	public void testCheckoutWithConflict() throws Exception {
 		CheckoutCommand co = git.checkout();
 		try {
 			writeTrashFile("Test.txt", "Another change");
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ public class CheckoutCommandTest extends RepositoryTestCase {
 			assertEquals(Status.CONFLICTS, co.getResult().getStatus());
 			assertTrue(co.getResult().getConflictList().contains("Test.txt"));
 		}
+		git.checkout().setName("master").setForce(true).call();
+		assertThat(read("Test.txt"), is("Hello world"));
 	}
 
 	@Test
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommand.java
index 11edb1089..455a2e665 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/CheckoutCommand.java
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ public class CheckoutCommand extends GitCommand<Ref> {
 			try {
 				dco = new DirCacheCheckout(repo, headTree, dc,
 						newCommit.getTree());
-				dco.setFailOnConflict(true);
+				dco.setFailOnConflict(!force);
 				dco.setProgressMonitor(monitor);
 				try {
 					dco.checkout();
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
index ca1e3ab27..db6073f89 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ public class DirCacheCheckout {
 			builder.finish();
 
 			// init progress reporting
-			int numTotal = removed.size() + updated.size();
+			int numTotal = removed.size() + updated.size() + conflicts.size();
 			monitor.beginTask(JGitText.get().checkingOutFiles, numTotal);
 
 			performingCheckout = true;
@@ -597,6 +597,33 @@ public class DirCacheCheckout {
 				}
 				throw ex;
 			}
+			for (String conflict : conflicts) {
+				// the conflicts are likely to have multiple entries in the
+				// dircache, we only want to check out the one for the "theirs"
+				// tree
+				int entryIdx = dc.findEntry(conflict);
+				if (entryIdx >= 0) {
+					while (entryIdx < dc.getEntryCount()) {
+						DirCacheEntry entry = dc.getEntry(entryIdx);
+						if (!entry.getPathString().equals(conflict)) {
+							break;
+						}
+						if (entry.getStage() == DirCacheEntry.STAGE_3) {
+							checkoutEntry(repo, entry, objectReader, false,
+									null);
+							break;
+						}
+						++entryIdx;
+					}
+				}
+
+				monitor.update(1);
+				if (monitor.isCancelled()) {
+					throw new CanceledException(MessageFormat.format(
+							JGitText.get().operationCanceled,
+							JGitText.get().checkingOutFiles));
+				}
+			}
 			monitor.endTask();
 
 			// commit the index builder - a new index is persisted