diff --git a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
index dd852068b1..7f1756f1eb 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
@@ -379,6 +379,24 @@ The commit list format can be changed by setting the configuration option
 rebase.instructionFormat.  A customized instruction format will automatically
 have the long commit hash prepended to the format.
 
+-r::
+--rebase-merges::
+	By default, a rebase will simply drop merge commits from the todo
+	list, and put the rebased commits into a single, linear branch.
+	With `--rebase-merges`, the rebase will instead try to preserve
+	the branching structure within the commits that are to be rebased,
+	by recreating the merge commits. Any resolved merge conflicts or
+	manual amendments in these merge commits will have to be
+	resolved/re-applied manually.
++
+This mode is similar in spirit to `--preserve-merges`, but in contrast to
+that option works well in interactive rebases: commits can be reordered,
+inserted and dropped at will.
++
+It is currently only possible to recreate the merge commits using the
+`recursive` merge strategy; Different merge strategies can be used only via
+explicit `exec git merge -s <strategy> [...]` commands.
+
 -p::
 --preserve-merges::
 	Recreate merge commits instead of flattening the history by replaying
@@ -781,7 +799,8 @@ BUGS
 The todo list presented by `--preserve-merges --interactive` does not
 represent the topology of the revision graph.  Editing commits and
 rewording their commit messages should work fine, but attempts to
-reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results.
+reorder commits tend to produce counterintuitive results. Use
+`--rebase-merges` in such scenarios instead.
 
 For example, an attempt to rearrange
 ------------
diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
index 01dd9ff07a..e646900409 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
@@ -1944,7 +1944,7 @@ _git_rebase ()
 	--*)
 		__gitcomp "
 			--onto --merge --strategy --interactive
-			--preserve-merges --stat --no-stat
+			--rebase-merges --preserve-merges --stat --no-stat
 			--committer-date-is-author-date --ignore-date
 			--ignore-whitespace --whitespace=
 			--autosquash --no-autosquash
diff --git a/git-rebase--interactive.sh b/git-rebase--interactive.sh
index acb4bfd3fc..e29da63433 100644
--- a/git-rebase--interactive.sh
+++ b/git-rebase--interactive.sh
@@ -970,6 +970,7 @@ git_rebase__interactive () {
 	init_revisions_and_shortrevisions
 
 	git rebase--helper --make-script ${keep_empty:+--keep-empty} \
+		${rebase_merges:+--rebase-merges} \
 		$revisions ${restrict_revision+^$restrict_revision} >"$todo" ||
 	die "$(gettext "Could not generate todo list")"
 
diff --git a/git-rebase.sh b/git-rebase.sh
index ded5de085a..a553f969d1 100755
--- a/git-rebase.sh
+++ b/git-rebase.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ q,quiet!           be quiet. implies --no-stat
 autostash          automatically stash/stash pop before and after
 fork-point         use 'merge-base --fork-point' to refine upstream
 onto=!             rebase onto given branch instead of upstream
+r,rebase-merges!   try to rebase merges instead of skipping them
 p,preserve-merges! try to recreate merges instead of ignoring them
 s,strategy=!       use the given merge strategy
 no-ff!             cherry-pick all commits, even if unchanged
@@ -89,6 +90,7 @@ type=
 state_dir=
 # One of {'', continue, skip, abort}, as parsed from command line
 action=
+rebase_merges=
 preserve_merges=
 autosquash=
 keep_empty=
@@ -280,6 +282,10 @@ do
 	--no-keep-empty)
 		keep_empty=
 		;;
+	--rebase-merges)
+		rebase_merges=t
+		test -z "$interactive_rebase" && interactive_rebase=implied
+		;;
 	--preserve-merges)
 		preserve_merges=t
 		test -z "$interactive_rebase" && interactive_rebase=implied
diff --git a/t/t3430-rebase-merges.sh b/t/t3430-rebase-merges.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..5f0febb997
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t3430-rebase-merges.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2018 Johannes E. Schindelin
+#
+
+test_description='git rebase -i --rebase-merges
+
+This test runs git rebase "interactively", retaining the branch structure by
+recreating merge commits.
+
+Initial setup:
+
+    -- B --                   (first)
+   /       \
+ A - C - D - E - H            (master)
+       \       /
+         F - G                (second)
+'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+. "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-rebase.sh
+
+test_cmp_graph () {
+	cat >expect &&
+	git log --graph --boundary --format=%s "$@" >output &&
+	sed "s/ *$//" <output >output.trimmed &&
+	test_cmp expect output.trimmed
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+	write_script replace-editor.sh <<-\EOF &&
+	mv "$1" "$(git rev-parse --git-path ORIGINAL-TODO)"
+	cp script-from-scratch "$1"
+	EOF
+
+	test_commit A &&
+	git checkout -b first &&
+	test_commit B &&
+	git checkout master &&
+	test_commit C &&
+	test_commit D &&
+	git merge --no-commit B &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git commit -m E &&
+	git tag -m E E &&
+	git checkout -b second C &&
+	test_commit F &&
+	test_commit G &&
+	git checkout master &&
+	git merge --no-commit G &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git commit -m H &&
+	git tag -m H H
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'create completely different structure' '
+	cat >script-from-scratch <<-\EOF &&
+	label onto
+
+	# onebranch
+	pick G
+	pick D
+	label onebranch
+
+	# second
+	reset onto
+	pick B
+	label second
+
+	reset onto
+	merge -C H second
+	merge onebranch # Merge the topic branch '\''onebranch'\''
+	EOF
+	test_config sequence.editor \""$PWD"/replace-editor.sh\" &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git rebase -i -r A &&
+	test_cmp_graph <<-\EOF
+	*   Merge the topic branch '\''onebranch'\''
+	|\
+	| * D
+	| * G
+	* |   H
+	|\ \
+	| |/
+	|/|
+	| * B
+	|/
+	* A
+	EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'generate correct todo list' '
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	label onto
+
+	reset onto
+	pick d9df450 B
+	label E
+
+	reset onto
+	pick 5dee784 C
+	label branch-point
+	pick ca2c861 F
+	pick 088b00a G
+	label H
+
+	reset branch-point # C
+	pick 12bd07b D
+	merge -C 2051b56 E # E
+	merge -C 233d48a H # H
+
+	EOF
+
+	grep -v "^#" <.git/ORIGINAL-TODO >output &&
+	test_cmp expect output
+'
+
+test_expect_success '`reset` refuses to overwrite untracked files' '
+	git checkout -b refuse-to-reset &&
+	test_commit dont-overwrite-untracked &&
+	git checkout @{-1} &&
+	: >dont-overwrite-untracked.t &&
+	echo "reset refs/tags/dont-overwrite-untracked" >script-from-scratch &&
+	test_config sequence.editor \""$PWD"/replace-editor.sh\" &&
+	test_must_fail git rebase -r HEAD &&
+	git rebase --abort
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'failed `merge` writes patch (may be rescheduled, too)' '
+	test_when_finished "test_might_fail git rebase --abort" &&
+	git checkout -b conflicting-merge A &&
+
+	: fail because of conflicting untracked file &&
+	>G.t &&
+	echo "merge -C H G" >script-from-scratch &&
+	test_config sequence.editor \""$PWD"/replace-editor.sh\" &&
+	test_tick &&
+	test_must_fail git rebase -ir HEAD &&
+	grep "^merge -C .* G$" .git/rebase-merge/done &&
+	grep "^merge -C .* G$" .git/rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo &&
+	test_path_is_file .git/rebase-merge/patch &&
+
+	: fail because of merge conflict &&
+	rm G.t .git/rebase-merge/patch &&
+	git reset --hard &&
+	test_commit conflicting-G G.t not-G conflicting-G &&
+	test_must_fail git rebase --continue &&
+	! grep "^merge -C .* G$" .git/rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo &&
+	test_path_is_file .git/rebase-merge/patch
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'with a branch tip that was cherry-picked already' '
+	git checkout -b already-upstream master &&
+	base="$(git rev-parse --verify HEAD)" &&
+
+	test_commit A1 &&
+	test_commit A2 &&
+	git reset --hard $base &&
+	test_commit B1 &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git merge -m "Merge branch A" A2 &&
+
+	git checkout -b upstream-with-a2 $base &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git cherry-pick A2 &&
+
+	git checkout already-upstream &&
+	test_tick &&
+	git rebase -i -r upstream-with-a2 &&
+	test_cmp_graph upstream-with-a2.. <<-\EOF
+	*   Merge branch A
+	|\
+	| * A1
+	* | B1
+	|/
+	o A2
+	EOF
+'
+
+test_done