diff --git a/git/cmd.py b/git/cmd.py
index 2d4aa7279..b8b27d42f 100644
--- a/git/cmd.py
+++ b/git/cmd.py
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ def __init__(self, proc, args ):
             self.args = args
             
         def __del__(self):
+            self.proc.stdout.close()
+            self.proc.stderr.close()
+
             # did the process finish already so we have a return code ?
             if self.proc.poll() is not None:
                 return
@@ -84,6 +87,8 @@ def __del__(self):
             # try to kill it
             try:
                 os.kill(self.proc.pid, 2)   # interrupt signal
+            except OSError:
+                pass # ignore error when process already died
             except AttributeError:
                 # try windows 
                 # for some reason, providing None for stdout/stderr still prints something. This is why 
@@ -100,6 +105,8 @@ def wait(self):
             
             :raise GitCommandError: if the return status is not 0"""
             status = self.proc.wait()
+            self.proc.stdout.close()
+            self.proc.stderr.close()
             if status != 0:
                 raise GitCommandError(self.args, status, self.proc.stderr.read())
             # END status handling