diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index e69de29..8552112 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[submodule "icu"]
+	path = icu
+	url = https://github.com/unicode-org/icu
+	branch = maint/maint-75
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cff9d85..efda94a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ This repo provides a universal script for building static ICU libraries for use
  - Manually
 ```
     # clone the repo
-    git clone -b 75 --recursive https://github.com/apotocki/icu4c-iosx
+    git clone -b 75 https://github.com/apotocki/icu4c-iosx
     
     # build libraries
     cd icu4c-iosx
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ This repo provides a universal script for building static ICU libraries for use
     use_frameworks!
     pod 'icu4c-iosx', '~> 75.1'
     # or optionally more precisely
-    # pod 'icu4c-iosx', :git => 'https://github.com/apotocki/icu4c-iosx', :tag => '75.1.1', :submodules => 'true'
+    # pod 'icu4c-iosx', :git => 'https://github.com/apotocki/icu4c-iosx', :tag => '75.1.2'
 ```    
 install new dependency:
 ```
diff --git a/icu4c-iosx.podspec b/icu4c-iosx.podspec
index 81e8313..369eb6f 100644
--- a/icu4c-iosx.podspec
+++ b/icu4c-iosx.podspec
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Pod::Spec.new do |s|
     s.name         = "icu4c-iosx"
-    s.version      = "75.1.1"
+    s.version      = "75.1.2"
     s.summary      = "ICU XCFramework for macOS, iOS, and visionOS, including both arm64 and x86_64 builds for macOS, Mac Catalyst, iOS Simulator, and visionOS Simulator."
     s.homepage     = "https://github.com/apotocki/icu4c-iosx"
     s.license      = "BSD"
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index 8bc497c..9a2580b 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ if [ -z "${WITH_DATA_PACKAGING}" ]; then
 fi
 echo "USING WITH_DATA_PACKAGING: $WITH_DATA_PACKAGING"
 
+if [ ! -d icu ]; then
+	echo downloading icu ...
+	git clone --depth 1 -b $ICU_VER https://github.com/unicode-org/icu icu
+fi
+
 #explicit 75.1
 pushd icu
 git fetch --depth=1 origin 7750081bda4b3bc1768ae03849ec70f67ea10625