diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go
index 5daf863f46a..3e25c6e5371 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ type CopyOptions struct {
 	Container  string
 	Namespace  string
 	NoPreserve bool
+	MaxTries   int
 
 	ClientConfig      *restclient.Config
 	Clientset         kubernetes.Interface
@@ -155,6 +156,7 @@ func NewCmdCp(f cmdutil.Factory, ioStreams genericclioptions.IOStreams) *cobra.C
 	}
 	cmdutil.AddContainerVarFlags(cmd, &o.Container, o.Container)
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&o.NoPreserve, "no-preserve", "", false, "The copied file/directory's ownership and permissions will not be preserved in the container")
+	cmd.Flags().IntVarP(&o.MaxTries, "retries", "", 0, "Set number of retries to complete a copy operation from a container. Specify 0 to disable or any negative value for infinite retrying. The default is 0 (no retry).")
 
 	return cmd
 }
@@ -327,38 +329,77 @@ func (o *CopyOptions) copyToPod(src, dest fileSpec, options *exec.ExecOptions) e
 }
 
 func (o *CopyOptions) copyFromPod(src, dest fileSpec) error {
-	reader, outStream := io.Pipe()
-	options := &exec.ExecOptions{
-		StreamOptions: exec.StreamOptions{
-			IOStreams: genericclioptions.IOStreams{
-				In:     nil,
-				Out:    outStream,
-				ErrOut: o.Out,
-			},
-
-			Namespace: src.PodNamespace,
-			PodName:   src.PodName,
-		},
-
-		// TODO: Improve error messages by first testing if 'tar' is present in the container?
-		Command:  []string{"tar", "cf", "-", src.File.String()},
-		Executor: &exec.DefaultRemoteExecutor{},
-	}
-
-	go func() {
-		defer outStream.Close()
-		cmdutil.CheckErr(o.execute(options))
-	}()
-
+	reader := newTarPipe(src, o)
 	srcFile := src.File.(remotePath)
 	destFile := dest.File.(localPath)
-
 	// remove extraneous path shortcuts - these could occur if a path contained extra "../"
 	// and attempted to navigate beyond "/" in a remote filesystem
 	prefix := stripPathShortcuts(srcFile.StripSlashes().Clean().String())
 	return o.untarAll(src.PodNamespace, src.PodName, prefix, srcFile, destFile, reader)
 }
 
+type TarPipe struct {
+	src       fileSpec
+	o         *CopyOptions
+	reader    *io.PipeReader
+	outStream *io.PipeWriter
+	bytesRead uint64
+	retries   int
+}
+
+func newTarPipe(src fileSpec, o *CopyOptions) *TarPipe {
+	t := new(TarPipe)
+	t.src = src
+	t.o = o
+	t.initReadFrom(0)
+	return t
+}
+
+func (t *TarPipe) initReadFrom(n uint64) {
+	t.reader, t.outStream = io.Pipe()
+	options := &exec.ExecOptions{
+		StreamOptions: exec.StreamOptions{
+			IOStreams: genericclioptions.IOStreams{
+				In:     nil,
+				Out:    t.outStream,
+				ErrOut: t.o.Out,
+			},
+
+			Namespace: t.src.PodNamespace,
+			PodName:   t.src.PodName,
+		},
+
+		// TODO: Improve error messages by first testing if 'tar' is present in the container?
+		Command:  []string{"tar", "cf", "-", t.src.File.String()},
+		Executor: &exec.DefaultRemoteExecutor{},
+	}
+	if t.o.MaxTries > 0 {
+		options.Command = []string{"sh", "-c", fmt.Sprintf("tar cf - %s | tail -c+%d", t.src.File, n)}
+	}
+
+	go func() {
+		defer t.outStream.Close()
+		cmdutil.CheckErr(t.o.execute(options))
+	}()
+}
+
+func (t *TarPipe) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
+	n, err = t.reader.Read(p)
+	if err != nil {
+		if t.o.MaxTries < 0 || t.retries < t.o.MaxTries {
+			fmt.Printf("Resuming copy at %d bytes, retry %d/%d\n", t.bytesRead, t.retries, t.o.MaxTries)
+			t.initReadFrom(t.bytesRead + 1)
+			err = nil
+			t.retries++
+		} else {
+			fmt.Printf("Dropping out copy after %d retries\n", t.retries)
+		}
+	} else {
+		t.bytesRead += uint64(n)
+	}
+	return
+}
+
 func makeTar(src localPath, dest remotePath, writer io.Writer) error {
 	// TODO: use compression here?
 	tarWriter := tar.NewWriter(writer)