diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 3b9434ef59884c330b1f70eb5031c747cae38fee..f5121b189cda7012dea2e9e37eb62d37ca736939 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 variables:
   DEPLOY_ROOT: "/var/www/html/hcc-docs"
+  GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
 
 stages:
   - deploy