diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst-rsrc/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/A1_sub.patch b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst-rsrc/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/A1_sub.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..09867f3be
Binary files /dev/null and b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst-rsrc/org/eclipse/jgit/diff/A1_sub.patch differ
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommandTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommandTest.java
index 16c0a9b44..3c38edb86 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommandTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommandTest.java
@@ -111,6 +111,14 @@ public void testAddA2() throws Exception {
 				b.getString(0, b.size(), false));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testAddA1Sub() throws Exception {
+		ApplyResult result = init("A1_sub", false, false);
+		assertEquals(1, result.getUpdatedFiles().size());
+		assertEquals(new File(db.getWorkTree(), "sub/A1"), result
+				.getUpdatedFiles().get(0));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testDeleteD() throws Exception {
 		ApplyResult result = init("D", true, false);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommand.java
index 32abf86ed..e6070eccf 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/ApplyCommand.java
@@ -167,6 +167,8 @@ private File getFile(String path, boolean create)
 		File f = new File(getRepository().getWorkTree(), path);
 		if (create)
 			try {
+				File parent = f.getParentFile();
+				FileUtils.mkdirs(parent, true);
 				FileUtils.createNewFile(f);
 			} catch (IOException e) {
 				throw new PatchApplyException(MessageFormat.format(