diff --git a/.changelog/3928.txt b/.changelog/3928.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..850ad30137f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/3928.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:enhancement
+`compute`: Added graceful termination to `google_compute_instance_group_manager` create calls so that partially created instance group managers will resume the original operation if the Terraform process is killed mid create.
+```
diff --git a/google/compute_operation.go b/google/compute_operation.go
index 78544c473c1..2355dae95c9 100644
--- a/google/compute_operation.go
+++ b/google/compute_operation.go
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@ package google
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"log"
 	"time"
 
 	"google.golang.org/api/compute/v1"
@@ -11,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 type ComputeOperationWaiter struct {
 	Service *compute.Service
 	Op      *compute.Operation
+	Context context.Context
 	Project string
 }
 
@@ -53,6 +57,15 @@ func (w *ComputeOperationWaiter) QueryOp() (interface{}, error) {
 	if w == nil || w.Op == nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Cannot query operation, it's unset or nil.")
 	}
+	if w.Context != nil {
+		select {
+		case <-w.Context.Done():
+			log.Println("[WARN] request has been cancelled early")
+			return w.Op, errors.New("unable to finish polling, context has been cancelled")
+		default:
+			// default must be here to keep the previous case from blocking
+		}
+	}
 	if w.Op.Zone != "" {
 		zone := GetResourceNameFromSelfLink(w.Op.Zone)
 		return w.Service.ZoneOperations.Get(w.Project, zone, w.Op.Name).Do()
@@ -88,6 +101,7 @@ func computeOperationWaitTime(config *Config, res interface{}, project, activity
 
 	w := &ComputeOperationWaiter{
 		Service: config.clientCompute,
+		Context: config.context,
 		Op:      op,
 		Project: project,
 	}
diff --git a/google/resource_compute_instance_group_manager.go b/google/resource_compute_instance_group_manager.go
index c6162706737..a28ac6f568c 100644
--- a/google/resource_compute_instance_group_manager.go
+++ b/google/resource_compute_instance_group_manager.go
@@ -277,6 +277,10 @@ func resourceComputeInstanceGroupManager() *schema.Resource {
 				Default:     false,
 				Description: `Whether to wait for all instances to be created/updated before returning. Note that if this is set to true and the operation does not succeed, Terraform will continue trying until it times out.`,
 			},
+			"operation": {
+				Type:     schema.TypeString,
+				Computed: true,
+			},
 		},
 	}
 }
@@ -353,6 +357,18 @@ func resourceComputeInstanceGroupManagerCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta inte
 	// Wait for the operation to complete
 	err = computeOperationWaitTime(config, op, project, "Creating InstanceGroupManager", d.Timeout(schema.TimeoutCreate))
 	if err != nil {
+		// Check if the create operation failed because Terraform was prematurely terminated. If it was we can persist the
+		// operation id to state so that a subsequent refresh of this resource will wait until the operation has terminated
+		// before attempting to Read the state of the manager. This allows a graceful resumption of a Create that was killed
+		// by the upstream Terraform process exiting early such as a sigterm.
+		select {
+		case <-config.context.Done():
+			log.Printf("[DEBUG] Persisting %s so this operation can be resumed \n", op.Name)
+			d.Set("operation", op.Name)
+			return nil
+		default:
+			// leaving default case to ensure this is non blocking
+		}
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -430,6 +446,24 @@ func resourceComputeInstanceGroupManagerRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interf
 		return err
 	}
 
+	operation := d.Get("operation").(string)
+	if operation != "" {
+		log.Printf("[DEBUG] in progress operation detected at %v, attempting to resume", operation)
+		zone, _ := getZone(d, config)
+		op := &computeBeta.Operation{
+			Name: operation,
+			Zone: zone,
+		}
+		d.Set("operation", "")
+		err = computeOperationWaitTime(config, op, project, "Creating InstanceGroupManager", d.Timeout(schema.TimeoutCreate))
+		if err != nil {
+			// remove from state to allow refresh to finish
+			log.Printf("[DEBUG] Resumed operation returned an error, removing from state: %s", err)
+			d.SetId("")
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
 	manager, err := getManager(d, meta)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err