diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/util.py b/django/contrib/admin/util.py
--- a/django/contrib/admin/util.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/util.py
@@ -108,29 +108,6 @@
         # TODO using a private model API!
         obj._collect_sub_objects(collector)
 
-    # TODO This next bit is needed only because GenericRelations are
-    # cascade-deleted way down in the internals in
-    # DeleteQuery.delete_batch_related, instead of being found by
-    # _collect_sub_objects. Refs #12593.
-    from django.contrib.contenttypes import generic
-    for f in obj._meta.many_to_many:
-        if isinstance(f, generic.GenericRelation):
-            rel_manager = f.value_from_object(obj)
-            for related in rel_manager.all():
-                # There's a wierdness here in the case that the
-                # generic-related object also has FKs pointing to it
-                # from elsewhere. DeleteQuery does not follow those
-                # FKs or delete any such objects explicitly (which is
-                # probably a bug). Some databases may cascade those
-                # deletes themselves, and some won't. So do we report
-                # those objects as to-be-deleted? No right answer; for
-                # now we opt to report only on objects that Django
-                # will explicitly delete, at risk that some further
-                # objects will be silently deleted by a
-                # referential-integrity-maintaining database.
-                collector.add(related.__class__, related.pk, related,
-                              obj.__class__, obj)
-
     perms_needed = set()
 
     to_delete = collector.nested(_format_callback,
@@ -188,6 +165,10 @@
         """
         model, pk = type(obj), obj._get_pk_val()
 
+        # auto-created M2M models don't interest us
+        if model._meta.auto_created:
+            return True
+        
         key = model, pk
 
         if key in self.seen:
diff --git a/django/db/models/base.py b/django/db/models/base.py
--- a/django/db/models/base.py
+++ b/django/db/models/base.py
@@ -555,7 +555,7 @@
 
         for related in self._meta.get_all_related_objects():
             rel_opts_name = related.get_accessor_name()
-            if isinstance(related.field.rel, OneToOneRel):
+            if not related.field.rel.multiple:
                 try:
                     sub_obj = getattr(self, rel_opts_name)
                 except ObjectDoesNotExist:
@@ -581,6 +581,30 @@
                 for sub_obj in delete_qs:
                     sub_obj._collect_sub_objects(seen_objs, self, related.field.null)
 
+        for related in self._meta.get_all_related_many_to_many_objects():
+            if related.field.rel.through:
+                opts = related.field.rel.through._meta
+                reverse_field_name = related.field.m2m_reverse_field_name()
+                nullable = opts.get_field(reverse_field_name).null
+                filters = {reverse_field_name: self}
+                for sub_obj in related.field.rel.through._base_manager.filter(**filters):
+                    sub_obj._collect_sub_objects(seen_objs, self, nullable)
+
+        for f in self._meta.many_to_many:
+            if f.rel.through:
+                opts = f.rel.through._meta
+                field_name = f.m2m_field_name()
+                nullable = opts.get_field(field_name).null
+                filters = {field_name: self}
+                for sub_obj in f.rel.through._base_manager.filter(**filters):
+                    sub_obj._collect_sub_objects(seen_objs, self, nullable)
+            else:
+                # m2m-ish but with no through table? GenericRelation: cascade delete
+                for sub_obj in f.value_from_object(self).all():
+                    # Generic relations not enforced by db constraints, thus we can set
+                    # nullable=True, order does not matter
+                    sub_obj._collect_sub_objects(seen_objs, self, True)
+
         # Handle any ancestors (for the model-inheritance case). We do this by
         # traversing to the most remote parent classes -- those with no parents
         # themselves -- and then adding those instances to the collection. That
diff --git a/django/db/models/query.py b/django/db/models/query.py
--- a/django/db/models/query.py
+++ b/django/db/models/query.py
@@ -1278,8 +1278,6 @@
                     signals.pre_delete.send(sender=cls, instance=instance)
 
             pk_list = [pk for pk,instance in items]
-            del_query = sql.DeleteQuery(cls)
-            del_query.delete_batch_related(pk_list, using=using)
 
             update_query = sql.UpdateQuery(cls)
             for field, model in cls._meta.get_fields_with_model():
diff --git a/django/db/models/sql/subqueries.py b/django/db/models/sql/subqueries.py
--- a/django/db/models/sql/subqueries.py
+++ b/django/db/models/sql/subqueries.py
@@ -26,52 +26,9 @@
         self.where = where
         self.get_compiler(using).execute_sql(None)
 
-    def delete_batch_related(self, pk_list, using):
-        """
-        Set up and execute delete queries for all the objects related to the
-        primary key values in pk_list. To delete the objects themselves, use
-        the delete_batch() method.
-
-        More than one physical query may be executed if there are a
-        lot of values in pk_list.
-        """
-        from django.contrib.contenttypes import generic
-        cls = self.model
-        for related in cls._meta.get_all_related_many_to_many_objects():
-            if not isinstance(related.field, generic.GenericRelation):
-                for offset in range(0, len(pk_list), GET_ITERATOR_CHUNK_SIZE):
-                    where = self.where_class()
-                    where.add((Constraint(None,
-                            related.field.m2m_reverse_name(), related.field),
-                            'in',
-                            pk_list[offset : offset+GET_ITERATOR_CHUNK_SIZE]),
-                            AND)
-                    self.do_query(related.field.m2m_db_table(), where, using=using)
-
-        for f in cls._meta.many_to_many:
-            w1 = self.where_class()
-            db_prep_value = None
-            if isinstance(f, generic.GenericRelation):
-                from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
-                ct_field = f.rel.to._meta.get_field(f.content_type_field_name)
-                w1.add((Constraint(None, ct_field.column, ct_field), 'exact',
-                        ContentType.objects.get_for_model(cls).id), AND)
-                id_field = f.rel.to._meta.get_field(f.object_id_field_name)
-                db_prep_value = id_field.get_db_prep_value
-            for offset in range(0, len(pk_list), GET_ITERATOR_CHUNK_SIZE):
-                where = self.where_class()
-                where.add((Constraint(None, f.m2m_column_name(), f), 'in',
-                        map(db_prep_value,
-                            pk_list[offset : offset + GET_ITERATOR_CHUNK_SIZE])),
-                        AND)
-                if w1:
-                    where.add(w1, AND)
-                self.do_query(f.m2m_db_table(), where, using=using)
-
     def delete_batch(self, pk_list, using):
         """
-        Set up and execute delete queries for all the objects in pk_list. This
-        should be called after delete_batch_related(), if necessary.
+        Set up and execute delete queries for all the objects in pk_list.
 
         More than one physical query may be executed if there are a
         lot of values in pk_list.
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py
--- a/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/models.py
@@ -3,9 +3,42 @@
 from django.db.models import sql, query
 from django.test import TransactionTestCase
 
+from django.contrib.contenttypes import generic
+from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
+
+class Award(models.Model):
+    name = models.CharField(max_length=25)
+    object_id = models.PositiveIntegerField()
+    content_type = models.ForeignKey(ContentType)
+    content_object = generic.GenericForeignKey()
+
+class AwardNote(models.Model):
+    award = models.ForeignKey(Award)
+    note = models.CharField(max_length=100)
+
+class Person(models.Model):
+    name = models.CharField(max_length=25)
+    awards = generic.GenericRelation(Award)
+
 class Book(models.Model):
     pagecount = models.IntegerField()
 
+class Toy(models.Model):
+    name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
+
+class Child(models.Model):
+    name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
+    toys = models.ManyToManyField(Toy, through='PlayedWith')
+
+class PlayedWith(models.Model):
+    child = models.ForeignKey(Child)
+    toy = models.ForeignKey(Toy)
+    date = models.DateField()
+
+class PlayedWithNote(models.Model):
+    played = models.ForeignKey(PlayedWith)
+    note = models.TextField()
+
 # Can't run this test under SQLite, because you can't
 # get two connections to an in-memory database.
 if settings.DATABASES[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]['ENGINE'] != 'django.db.backends.sqlite3':
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/tests.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/delete_regress/tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import datetime
+
+from django.test import TestCase
+
+from models import Award, AwardNote, Person, Child, Toy, PlayedWith, PlayedWithNote
+
+class DeleteCascadeTests(TestCase):
+    def test_generic_relation_cascade(self):
+        """
+        Test that Django cascades deletes through generic-related
+        objects to their reverse relations.
+        
+        This might falsely succeed if the database cascades deletes
+        itself immediately; the postgresql_psycopg2 backend does not
+        give such a false success because ForeignKeys are created with
+        DEFERRABLE INITIALLY DEFERRED, so its internal cascade is
+        delayed until transaction commit.
+        
+        """
+        person = Person.objects.create(name='Nelson Mandela')
+        award = Award.objects.create(name='Nobel', content_object=person)
+        note = AwardNote.objects.create(note='a peace prize',
+                                        award=award)
+        self.assertEquals(AwardNote.objects.count(), 1)
+        person.delete()
+        self.assertEquals(Award.objects.count(), 0)
+        # first two asserts are just sanity checks, this is the kicker:
+        self.assertEquals(AwardNote.objects.count(), 0)
+
+    def test_fk_to_m2m_through(self):
+        """
+        Test that if a M2M relationship has an explicitly-specified
+        through model, and some other model has an FK to that through
+        model, deletion is cascaded from one of the participants in
+        the M2M, to the through model, to its related model.
+        
+        Like the above test, this could in theory falsely succeed if
+        the DB cascades deletes itself immediately.
+        
+        """
+        juan = Child.objects.create(name='Juan')
+        paints = Toy.objects.create(name='Paints')
+        played = PlayedWith.objects.create(child=juan, toy=paints,
+                                           date=datetime.date.today())
+        note = PlayedWithNote.objects.create(played=played,
+                                             note='the next Jackson Pollock')
+        self.assertEquals(PlayedWithNote.objects.count(), 1)
+        paints.delete()
+        self.assertEquals(PlayedWith.objects.count(), 0)
+        # first two asserts just sanity checks, this is the kicker:
+        self.assertEquals(PlayedWithNote.objects.count(), 0)
