You will be given a definition of a task first, then some input of the task.
In this task, you are given two sentences in the English language (Sentence 1 and Sentence 2). Your task is to identify the connecting word between the two sentences.

Sentence 1:By the middle of March 1945 , things were not going well in the Pacific for the Japanese , and they withdrew their elite troops from Manchuria to support actions in the Pacific . Sentence 2:Meanwhile , the Soviets continued their Far Eastern buildup .
Output:
meanwhile