diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -2052,21 +2052,44 @@ def forget(ui, repo, match, prefix, expl
     forgot.extend(forget)
     return bad, forgot
 
-def remove(ui, repo, m, after, force):
+def remove(ui, repo, m, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
+    join = lambda f: os.path.join(prefix, f)
     ret = 0
     s = repo.status(match=m, clean=True)
     modified, added, deleted, clean = s[0], s[1], s[3], s[6]
 
+    wctx = repo[None]
+
+    if subrepos:
+        for subpath in sorted(wctx.substate):
+            sub = wctx.sub(subpath)
+            try:
+                submatch = matchmod.narrowmatcher(subpath, m)
+                if sub.removefiles(ui, submatch, prefix, after, force,
+                                   subrepos):
+                    ret = 1
+            except error.LookupError:
+                ui.status(_("skipping missing subrepository: %s\n")
+                               % join(subpath))
+
     # warn about failure to delete explicit files/dirs
-    wctx = repo[None]
     for f in m.files():
-        if f in repo.dirstate or f in wctx.dirs():
+        def insubrepo():
+            for subpath in wctx.substate:
+                if f.startswith(subpath):
+                    return True
+            return False
+
+        if f in repo.dirstate or f in wctx.dirs() or (subrepos and insubrepo()):
             continue
-        if os.path.exists(m.rel(f)):
-            if os.path.isdir(m.rel(f)):
-                ui.warn(_('not removing %s: no tracked files\n') % m.rel(f))
+
+        if os.path.exists(m.rel(join(f))):
+            if os.path.isdir(m.rel(join(f))):
+                ui.warn(_('not removing %s: no tracked files\n')
+                        % m.rel(join(f)))
             else:
-                ui.warn(_('not removing %s: file is untracked\n') % m.rel(f))
+                ui.warn(_('not removing %s: file is untracked\n')
+                        % m.rel(join(f)))
         # missing files will generate a warning elsewhere
         ret = 1
 
@@ -2075,22 +2098,22 @@ def remove(ui, repo, m, after, force):
     elif after:
         list = deleted
         for f in modified + added + clean:
-            ui.warn(_('not removing %s: file still exists\n') % m.rel(f))
+            ui.warn(_('not removing %s: file still exists\n') % m.rel(join(f)))
             ret = 1
     else:
         list = deleted + clean
         for f in modified:
             ui.warn(_('not removing %s: file is modified (use -f'
-                      ' to force removal)\n') % m.rel(f))
+                      ' to force removal)\n') % m.rel(join(f)))
             ret = 1
         for f in added:
             ui.warn(_('not removing %s: file has been marked for add'
-                      ' (use forget to undo)\n') % m.rel(f))
+                      ' (use forget to undo)\n') % m.rel(join(f)))
             ret = 1
 
     for f in sorted(list):
         if ui.verbose or not m.exact(f):
-            ui.status(_('removing %s\n') % m.rel(f))
+            ui.status(_('removing %s\n') % m.rel(join(f)))
 
     wlock = repo.wlock()
     try:
diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -5086,7 +5086,7 @@ def recover(ui, repo):
     [('A', 'after', None, _('record delete for missing files')),
     ('f', 'force', None,
      _('remove (and delete) file even if added or modified')),
-    ] + walkopts,
+    ] + subrepoopts + walkopts,
     _('[OPTION]... FILE...'),
     inferrepo=True)
 def remove(ui, repo, *pats, **opts):
@@ -5131,7 +5131,8 @@ def remove(ui, repo, *pats, **opts):
         raise util.Abort(_('no files specified'))
 
     m = scmutil.match(repo[None], pats, opts)
-    return cmdutil.remove(ui, repo, m, after, force)
+    subrepos = opts.get('subrepos')
+    return cmdutil.remove(ui, repo, m, "", after, force, subrepos)
 
 @command('rename|move|mv',
     [('A', 'after', None, _('record a rename that has already occurred')),
diff --git a/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt b/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
--- a/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
+++ b/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ Interaction with Mercurial Commands
     elements. Subversion subrepositories are currently silently
     ignored.
 
+:remove: remove does not recurse into subrepositories unless
+    -S/--subrepos is specified.  Git and Subversion subrepositories
+    are currently silently ignored.
+
 :update: update restores the subrepos in the state they were
     originally committed in target changeset. If the recorded
     changeset is not available in the current subrepository, Mercurial
diff --git a/mercurial/subrepo.py b/mercurial/subrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/subrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/subrepo.py
@@ -501,6 +501,13 @@ class abstractsubrepo(object):
     def forget(self, ui, match, prefix):
         return ([], [])
 
+    def removefiles(self, ui, matcher, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
+        """remove the matched files from the subrepository and the filesystem,
+        possibly by force and/or after the file has been removed from the
+        filesystem.  Return 0 on success, 1 on any warning.
+        """
+        return 1
+
     def revert(self, ui, substate, *pats, **opts):
         ui.warn('%s: reverting %s subrepos is unsupported\n' \
             % (substate[0], substate[2]))
@@ -854,6 +861,12 @@ class hgsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
                               os.path.join(prefix, self._path), True)
 
     @annotatesubrepoerror
+    def removefiles(self, ui, matcher, prefix, after, force, subrepos):
+        return cmdutil.remove(ui, self._repo, matcher,
+                              os.path.join(prefix, self._path), after, force,
+                              subrepos)
+
+    @annotatesubrepoerror
     def revert(self, ui, substate, *pats, **opts):
         # reverting a subrepo is a 2 step process:
         # 1. if the no_backup is not set, revert all modified
diff --git a/tests/test-completion.t b/tests/test-completion.t
--- a/tests/test-completion.t
+++ b/tests/test-completion.t
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ Show all commands + options
   merge: force, rev, preview, tool
   pull: update, force, rev, bookmark, branch, ssh, remotecmd, insecure
   push: force, rev, bookmark, branch, new-branch, ssh, remotecmd, insecure
-  remove: after, force, include, exclude
+  remove: after, force, subrepos, include, exclude
   serve: accesslog, daemon, daemon-pipefds, errorlog, port, address, prefix, name, web-conf, webdir-conf, pid-file, stdio, cmdserver, templates, style, ipv6, certificate
   status: all, modified, added, removed, deleted, clean, unknown, ignored, no-status, copies, print0, rev, change, include, exclude, subrepos, template
   summary: remote
diff --git a/tests/test-help.t b/tests/test-help.t
--- a/tests/test-help.t
+++ b/tests/test-help.t
@@ -1944,6 +1944,9 @@ Dish up an empty repo; serve it cold.
   <tr><td>-f</td>
   <td>--force</td>
   <td>remove (and delete) file even if added or modified</td></tr>
+  <tr><td>-S</td>
+  <td>--subrepos</td>
+  <td>recurse into subrepositories</td></tr>
   <tr><td>-I</td>
   <td>--include PATTERN [+]</td>
   <td>include names matching the given patterns</td></tr>
diff --git a/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t b/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t
--- a/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t
+++ b/tests/test-subrepo-deep-nested-change.t
@@ -110,6 +110,17 @@ Check that deep archiving works
   $ hg ci -Sm "add test.txt"
   committing subrepository sub1
   committing subrepository sub1/sub2 (glob)
+
+.. but first take a detour through some deep removal testing
+
+  $ hg remove -S -I 're:.*.txt' sub1
+  removing sub1/sub2/folder/test.txt (glob)
+  removing sub1/sub2/test.txt (glob)
+  $ hg status -S
+  R sub1/sub2/folder/test.txt
+  R sub1/sub2/test.txt
+  $ hg update -Cq
+
   $ hg --config extensions.largefiles=! archive -S ../archive_all
   $ find ../archive_all | sort
   ../archive_all