diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationAction.java
index 740a003ffa8..4f44f680b46 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationAction.java
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@ public abstract class TransportReplicationAction<
                             transportReplicaAction,
                             request),
                     e);
+                request.onRetry();
                 final ThreadContext.StoredContext context = threadPool.getThreadContext().newStoredContext();
                 observer.waitForNextChange(new ClusterStateObserver.Listener() {
                     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/DeleteVersionValue.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/DeleteVersionValue.java
index baacc4b240d..b145a86e43d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/DeleteVersionValue.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/DeleteVersionValue.java
@@ -48,4 +48,12 @@ class DeleteVersionValue extends VersionValue {
     public long ramBytesUsed() {
         return BASE_RAM_BYTES_USED;
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "DeleteVersionValue{" +
+            "version=" + version() + ", " +
+            "time=" + time +
+            '}';
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
index 3cc1aa26195..c450e5214c1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.SearcherFactory;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.SearcherManager;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.TermQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.AlreadyClosedException;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.Directory;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.LockObtainFailedException;
@@ -484,7 +485,8 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
             // if anything is fishy here ie. there is a retry we go and force updateDocument below so we are updating the document in the
             // lucene index without checking the version map but we still do the version check
             final boolean forceUpdateDocument;
-            if (canOptimizeAddDocument(index)) {
+            final boolean canOptimizeAddDocument = canOptimizeAddDocument(index);
+            if (canOptimizeAddDocument) {
                 long deOptimizeTimestamp = maxUnsafeAutoIdTimestamp.get();
                 if (index.isRetry()) {
                     forceUpdateDocument = true;
@@ -523,7 +525,8 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
             final long updatedVersion = updateVersion(index, currentVersion, expectedVersion);
             index.setCreated(deleted);
             if (currentVersion == Versions.NOT_FOUND && forceUpdateDocument == false) {
-                // document does not exists, we can optimize for create
+                // document does not exists, we can optimize for create, but double check if assertions are running
+                assert assertDocDoesNotExist(index, canOptimizeAddDocument == false);
                 index(index, indexWriter);
             } else {
                 update(index, indexWriter);
@@ -532,6 +535,26 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Asserts that the doc in the index operation really doesn't exist
+     */
+    private boolean assertDocDoesNotExist(final Index index, final boolean allowDeleted) throws IOException {
+        final VersionValue versionValue = versionMap.getUnderLock(index.uid());
+        if (versionValue != null) {
+            if (versionValue.delete() == false || allowDeleted == false) {
+                throw new AssertionError("doc [" + index.type() + "][" + index.id() + "] exists in version map (version " + versionValue + ")");
+            }
+        } else {
+            try (final Searcher searcher = acquireSearcher("assert doc doesn't exist")) {
+                final long docsWithId = searcher.searcher().count(new TermQuery(index.uid()));
+                if (docsWithId > 0) {
+                    throw new AssertionError("doc [" + index.type() + "][" + index.id() + "] exists [" + docsWithId + "] times in index");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+
     private long updateVersion(Engine.Operation op, long currentVersion, long expectedVersion) {
         final long updatedVersion = op.versionType().updateVersion(currentVersion, expectedVersion);
         op.updateVersion(updatedVersion);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/VersionValue.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/VersionValue.java
index 662c88df5d9..5258b270091 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/VersionValue.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/VersionValue.java
@@ -57,4 +57,11 @@ class VersionValue implements Accountable {
     public Collection<Accountable> getChildResources() {
         return Collections.emptyList();
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "VersionValue{" +
+            "version=" + version +
+            '}';
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationActionTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationActionTests.java
index 3deae74f455..1caac899005 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationActionTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/TransportReplicationActionTests.java
@@ -867,8 +867,11 @@ public class TransportReplicationActionTests extends ESTestCase {
         final CapturingTransport.CapturedRequest capturedRequest = capturedRequests.get(0);
         assertThat(capturedRequest.action, equalTo("testActionWithExceptions[r]"));
         assertThat(capturedRequest.request, instanceOf(TransportReplicationAction.ConcreteShardRequest.class));
-        assertThat(((TransportReplicationAction.ConcreteShardRequest<?>) capturedRequest.request).getRequest(), equalTo(request));
-        assertThat(((TransportReplicationAction.ConcreteShardRequest<?>) capturedRequest.request).getTargetAllocationID(),
+        final TransportReplicationAction.ConcreteShardRequest<Request> concreteShardRequest =
+            (TransportReplicationAction.ConcreteShardRequest<Request>) capturedRequest.request;
+        assertThat(concreteShardRequest.getRequest(), equalTo(request));
+        assertThat(concreteShardRequest.getRequest().isRetrySet.get(), equalTo(true));
+        assertThat(concreteShardRequest.getTargetAllocationID(),
             equalTo(replica.allocationId().getId()));
     }