diff --git a/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs b/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs
index b6b7ea7762..72948e203f 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ const STORAGE_CONTROLLER_POSTGRES_VERSION: u32 = 16;
 pub struct AttachHookRequest {
     pub tenant_shard_id: TenantShardId,
     pub node_id: Option<NodeId>,
+    pub generation_override: Option<i32>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
@@ -440,6 +441,7 @@ impl StorageController {
         let request = AttachHookRequest {
             tenant_shard_id,
             node_id: Some(pageserver_id),
+            generation_override: None,
         };
 
         let response = self
diff --git a/storage_controller/src/service.rs b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
index c94af113db..181e262638 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/service.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
@@ -1234,13 +1234,14 @@ impl Service {
             let locked = self.inner.write().unwrap();
             !locked.tenants.contains_key(&attach_req.tenant_shard_id)
         };
+
         if insert {
             let tsp = TenantShardPersistence {
                 tenant_id: attach_req.tenant_shard_id.tenant_id.to_string(),
                 shard_number: attach_req.tenant_shard_id.shard_number.0 as i32,
                 shard_count: attach_req.tenant_shard_id.shard_count.literal() as i32,
                 shard_stripe_size: 0,
-                generation: Some(0),
+                generation: attach_req.generation_override.or(Some(0)),
                 generation_pageserver: None,
                 placement_policy: serde_json::to_string(&PlacementPolicy::Attached(0)).unwrap(),
                 config: serde_json::to_string(&TenantConfig::default()).unwrap(),
diff --git a/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py b/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py
index bad93ff39a..8994db8cf2 100644
--- a/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py
+++ b/test_runner/fixtures/neon_fixtures.py
@@ -2159,12 +2159,19 @@ class NeonStorageController(MetricsGetter, LogUtils):
         return time.time() - t1
 
     def attach_hook_issue(
-        self, tenant_shard_id: Union[TenantId, TenantShardId], pageserver_id: int
+        self,
+        tenant_shard_id: Union[TenantId, TenantShardId],
+        pageserver_id: int,
+        generation_override: Optional[int] = None,
     ) -> int:
+        body = {"tenant_shard_id": str(tenant_shard_id), "node_id": pageserver_id}
+        if generation_override is not None:
+            body["generation_override"] = generation_override
+
         response = self.request(
             "POST",
             f"{self.env.storage_controller_api}/debug/v1/attach-hook",
-            json={"tenant_shard_id": str(tenant_shard_id), "node_id": pageserver_id},
+            json=body,
             headers=self.headers(TokenScope.ADMIN),
         )
         gen = response.json()["gen"]
@@ -2635,6 +2642,7 @@ class NeonPageserver(PgProtocol, LogUtils):
         config: None | Dict[str, Any] = None,
         config_null: bool = False,
         generation: Optional[int] = None,
+        override_storage_controller_generation: bool = False,
     ):
         """
         Tenant attachment passes through here to acquire a generation number before proceeding
@@ -2643,6 +2651,10 @@ class NeonPageserver(PgProtocol, LogUtils):
         client = self.http_client()
         if generation is None:
             generation = self.env.storage_controller.attach_hook_issue(tenant_id, self.id)
+        elif override_storage_controller_generation:
+            generation = self.env.storage_controller.attach_hook_issue(
+                tenant_id, self.id, generation
+            )
         return client.tenant_attach(
             tenant_id,
             config,
diff --git a/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/many_tenants.py b/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/many_tenants.py
index def80a1c3e..8730d8ef75 100644
--- a/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/many_tenants.py
+++ b/test_runner/fixtures/pageserver/many_tenants.py
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ def single_timeline(
         env.pageserver.tenant_attach(
             tenant,
             config=template_config.copy(),
+            generation=100,
+            override_storage_controller_generation=True,
         )
         time.sleep(0.1)
         wait_until_tenant_state(ps_http, tenant, "Broken", 10)