diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index 6cc3157e2..7889ccea7 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -2229,7 +2229,12 @@ sub find_parent_branch {
 		# just grow a tail if we're not unique enough :x
 		$ref_id .= '-' while find_ref($ref_id);
 		print STDERR "Initializing parent: $ref_id\n";
-		$gs = Git::SVN->init($new_url, '', $ref_id, $ref_id, 1);
+		my ($u, $p) = ($new_url, '');
+		if ($u =~ s#^\Q$url\E(/|$)##) {
+			$p = $u;
+			$u = $url;
+		}
+		$gs = Git::SVN->init($u, $p, $self->{repo_id}, $ref_id, 1);
 	}
 	my ($r0, $parent) = $gs->find_rev_before($r, 1);
 	if (!defined $r0 || !defined $parent) {